GIFT   OF 
MRS.   JOHN  W.  GILMORE 


UNIVERSITY  FARM 


LIBRARY  OF 
JOHN  7f.   GILMORE 


*-//' 

(S      - f" 

COLCORD'S   SYSTEM 


OF 


PRESERVING  GREEN  FORAGE 


HEAT  OR  FERMENTATION 


EY  THE   USE   OF 


THE   SILO    GOVERNOR 


BY 

SAMUEL   M.    COLCORD 
DOVER  MASS. 


CHICAGO  ILL. 
HOWARD  &  WILSON  PUBLISHING  Co. 

1889 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LIBRARY 

COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE 
DAVIS 


COPYRIGHT 

BY   SAMUEL    M.    COLCORD 
1889 


DEDICATION. 

THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED  TO  THE  HOWARD  &  WlLSON 
PUBLISHING  COMPANY*  CHICAGO,  FROM  MY  WARM  RE- 
GARD AND  GRATITUDE  TO  THEM  AS  THE  FIRST  PERSONS 

TO  PERCEIVE  AND  CANDIDLY  ACKNOWLEDGE,  THROUGH 
THE  COLUMNS  OF  THEIR  VALUABLE  JOURNAL,  THE  GREAT 
IMPORTANCE  AND  MERIT  OF  MY  SYSTEM  OF  PERFECTLY 
PRESERVING  GREEN  FORAGE. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

PREFACE, 7 

THE  SYSTEM  AND  DEVICE, 13 

OF  SILOS, 15 

FILLING  AND  EMPTYING  THE  SILO, 19 

THE  FEED-BOX, 21 

CUT  OF  THE  FEED-BOX, 24 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FEED-BOX, 25 

WEIGHTING  THE  SILO, 26 

THE  CROP  TO  PRESERVE, 30 

MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  CROP, 31 

FERMENTATION  IN  SILOS, 34 

THE  SILO  GOVERNOR, 37 

CUT  OF  SILO  GOVERNOR, 41 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SILO  GOVERNOR, 42 

A  HALF  EMPTY  SILO, 48 

SILAGE  versus  DRY  FODDER.  By  Professor  Arnold,  .  48 
EXPERIMENTS  WITH  ENSILAGE.  By  Dr.  E.  L.  Sturte- 

vant,  Director  of  the  State  Experimental  Station  at 

Geneva,  N.Y., 50 

THE  OPINIONS  OF  EMINENT  AGRICULTURISTS,  ...  51 
SWEET  FORAGE  IN  WINTER.  From  the  Farm,  Field, 

and  Stockman 53 

MY  EXPERIMENT  SILO, 55 

BUILDING  SILOS, 64 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  PUTTING  IN  AND  REMOVING  THE  SILO 

GOVERNOR, 69 

CUT  OF  THE  TABLE-TOP  CORN-CART, 74 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  TABLE-TOP  CORN-CART,  ....  75 

FAULTY  SILOS  AND  FAULTY  MANIPULATIONS,  ...  76 


6  Contents 

PAGE 

REMEDY  FOR  FAULTY  SILOS, 80 

ENSILAGE    AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.      From  the  Dairy 

World, 82 

ELIMINATING  THE  AIR, 85 

PRESERVING  GREEN  FOOD.     Something  New  and  Impor- 
tant  in   Live  Stock  Economy.     From  the  Indiana 

Farmer,  1887, 85 

THE    COLCORD    ENSILAGE    EXPERIMENTS.     From    the 

Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  1888, 87 

WHAT  MY  NEIGHBORS  SAY, 90 

WHAT  THE  BUTCHER  SAYS, 97 

PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE, 99 

WHAT  LARGE  DAIRYMEN  SAY, 108 

PRESERVED  GREEN  FORAGE  FED  TO  YOUNG  CALVES,  .     no 
THE  SILO  GOVERNOR.    From  the  Massachusetts  Plough- 
man,      112 

ABOUT  FERTILIZERS, 115 

SILOS  AND  ENSILAGE.    From  the  New  England  Farmer,     122 
SWEET  ENSILAGE.     From  the  New  England  Farmer,     127 
ENSILAGE  A  PROMOTER  OF  DIGESTION   AND   ASSIMI- 
LATION,      130 

COLCORD'S    PRESERVED    GREEN   FORAGE.      From  the 

Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  1889, 132 

EXPERIMENTS  WITH    MILK    AND    CREAM.      From    the 

Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  1888, 138 

PATENT  SILAGE.    From  the  Rural  New  Yorker,    ...     141 
A  SUGGESTION  FOR  THE  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS.    From 
the  New  England  Farmer  and  Rural  New  Yorker, 

1889, 142 

THE  PRESERVATION  OF  ENSILAGE.    From  the  Report  of 
the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  of  Pennsylvania,  in 

1888.     By  S.  M.  Colcord, 143 

PROGRESS  MADE  IN  PRESERVING  GREEN  FORAGE  IN 

SILOS, 157 


PREFACE. 


THIS  little  treatise  is  designed  to  give  full  in- 
formation and  explanation  of  Colcord's  method 
and  device  for  Preserving  Green  Forage;  and 
I  have  endeavored  to  write  in  plain,  direct 
language,  so  that  all  persons  interested  in  the 
subject  may  be  able  to  readily  understand  and 
work  by  this  system  without  difficulty. 

The  treatise  is  arranged  to  give  our  present 
knowledge  on  its  first  pages ;  then  the  means 
pursued  by  which  the  knowledge  was  obtained; 
the  proofs,  tests,  experiments,  progressive  ex- 
perience, theories,  and  certificates  are  given 
later  on.  This  arrangement  necessarily  causes 
considerable  repetition,  as  well  as  apparent 
contradiction ;  but,  as  much  of  the  matter  em- 
braced in  this  treatise  has  been  published  from 
time  to  time,  as  facts  have  been  developed,  I 
prefer  to  reprint  some  of  the  original  articles, 
with  the  comments  made  by  the  press  at  the 
time  of  their  first  appearance,  remarking  that 


8  Preface 

any  investigator  will  be  a  lucky  man  who  will 
investigate  as  many  years  as  I  have  and  not 
find  occasion  to  change  his  theories  and  opin- 
ions quite  as  often  as  I  have  done. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  it  consumes 
one  whole  year's  time  to  make  each  experi- 
ment, or  each  class  of  experiments,  and  that 
it  is  necessary  to  verify  the  work  in  our  own 
silo  by  the  labors  of  other  men  with  other 
silos.  My  silo,  manipulations,  and  results  are 
always  open  to  the  investigations  of  others. 

Everybody  ought  to  know  how  utterly  im- 
possible it  is  for  any  one  man  to  make  success- 
ful experiments  in  opposite  directions  at  the 
same  time,  with  opposite  systems,  theories, 
and  modes  of  operation:  one  with  heat,  an- 
other without  heat;  one  cutting  forage  very 
fine,  another  packing  it  in  whole ;  one  weight- 
ing with  portable  weights  of  bags,  boxes,  or 
barrels,  another  pressing  with  screws ;  one  cut- 
ting down  vertically,  another  forking  off  from 
the  whole  top ;  one  making  an  ensilage  more 
or  less  repulsively  odorous,  another  pressing 
out  juice  in  quantity,  bringing  it  throughout 
to  the  top  of  the  silo,  removing  the  air  and 
free  gases,  and  producing  a  wholesome,  nutri- 
tious food,  without  waste  or  odor. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  thanking  the  press 


Preface  9 

for  what  they  have  done  to  bring  my  system 
and  device  to  the  notice  of  agriculturists ;  espe- 
cially the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  the  Dairy 
World,  the  Indiana  Farmer,  the  New  England 
Farmer,  the  Rural  New  Yorker,  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  of  Pennsylvania,  in  their 
Report  of  1888,  the  Scientific  American,  and 
several  papers  in  foreign  languages  that  have 
volunteered  to  publish  and  illustrate  this  in- 
vention as  a  public  benefit ;  also,  those  papers 
that  have  advertised  my  system  and  governor, 
without  admitting  me  to  their  editorial  columns, 
although  they  state  that  they  advertise  nothing 
that  they  cannot  recommend. 

All  the  editorial  and  other  matter  herein 
presented  as  copied  from  those  papers  has 
been  published  for  the  benefit  of  the  readers 
of  the  above-named  papers  without  expense  to 
me,  excepting  the  use  of  my  engravings  for 
illustration. 

I  also  insert,  with  these  previously  published 
accounts,  the  remarks  of  the  former  editor  of 
the  Massachusetts  Ploughman  in  relation  to 
the  meeting  and  investigations  of  the  farmers 
as  to  the  merits  of  the  silo  governor,  at  which 
meeting  the  following  closing  remarks  were 
made  by  Mr.  Ware:  — 

"  The  chairman  of  the  meeting,  at  its  open- 


io  Preface 

ing,  stated  that  what  was  wanted  was  real 
experience  instead  of  theory.  It  is  but  fair 
to  state  that  Mr.  Colcord  has  confined  his 
remarks  to  practical  experience  and  proofs, 
with  corroborating  testimony  about  the  gov- 
ernor." 

It  may  seem  contradictory,  or  merely  a  mat- 
ter of  opinion,  that  capillary  attraction  should 
be  stated  as  the  cause  of  bringing  the  juice 
from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  silo,  and 
holding  it  there,  when  it  is  also  stated  that 
carbonic  acid  had  taken  the  place  of  the  air 
in  the  silo,  and  that  under  pressure  the  car- 
bonic acid  was  absorbed  by  the  juice,  causing 
a  partial  vacuum,  which  is  the  cause  of  the 
rising  of  the  juice  to  the  top  of  the  silo ;  but 
both  these  statements  are  true,  either  separately 
or  combined. 

When  I  had  30  inches  of  juice  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  silo,  and  was  pressing  heavily,  it 
happened  that  the  juice  began  to  disappear 
very  rapidly.  I  did  not  believe  that  capillary 
attraction  could  be  the  cause  of  it,  and  sup- 
posed that  the  pressure  had  burst  a  hole  in 
the  bottom  of  the  silo ;  but,  when  the  silo  was 
empty,  I  could  find  no  leak.  I  allowed  the 
water  from  the  aqueduct  to  run  into  the  silo 
for  an  entire  day,  kept  the  water  in  it  for  a 


Preface  1 1 

month,  and  found  the  silo  perfectly  tight.  I 
then  remembered  that,  before  the  silo  was 
opened,  carbonic  acid  had  disappeared,  and 
that  acetic  acid  had  remained  in,  or  continued 
to  come  to  the  top  of  the  perpendicular  pipe 
above  the  silo.  This  was  proof  positive  of 
what  had  taken  place. 

We  wash  down  the  walls  of  the  silo  with 
water,  using  for  that  purpose  a  long-handled 
whitewash  brush.  This  water  is  all  drawn  off 
through  the  governor  drip  pipe,  and  this  is 
what  is  meant  by  using  the  governor  to  draw 
off  water.  We  never  put  water  into  the  forage; 
the  corn  contains  more  than  we  have  occasion 
to  use,  and  this  year  (1889)  we  have  been  feed- 
ing as  high  as  100  pounds  daily  of  juice,  but 
reduced  the  rations  to  50  pounds  until  the 
excess  of  juice  was  used  up. 

The  difference  in  the  corn  crop  between 
1887  and  1888  was  very  marked,  and  accounts 
for  much  of  the  difference  in  our  results.  The 
last  year's  crop  was  badly  frost-bitten,  quite 
immature,  gathered  and  packed  very  wet,  con- 
sequently it  required  much  less  pressure  and 
gave  a  much  larger  proportion  of  free  juice; 
but  the  screws  and  the  governor  entirely  con- 
trolled these  inequalities,  and,  so  far  as  the 
preservation  was  concerned,  the  result  was 
perfectly  satisfactory. 


1 2  Preface 

I  will  here  express  my  thanks  to  those  gen- 
tlemen who  have  encouraged  me  to  prosecute 
my  investigations,  also  to  those  who  have 
given  the  governor  a  fair  trial  and  are  now 
giving  me  their  aid  and  encouragement.  I 
wish  also  to  draw  the  particular  attention  of 
the  reader  to  the  certificate  of  the  marketman 
who  butchers  my  cows,  fatted  upon  this  forage 
and  wheat  bran,  (no  corn  meal  being  used); 
also  to  the  New  York  Experiment  Station,  in 
making  the  experiment  of  mixing  acetic  acid 
with  green  corn  forage.  It  is  valuable  as 
showing  the  good  effects  of  a  limited  quantity 
of  acetic  acid,  and  coincides  with  my  experi- 
ence. But  I  don't  think  it  safe  to  recommend 
such  large  addition  of  acetic  acid,  as  a  steady 
diet,  to  ensilage  as  commonly  prepared;  the 
cows,  as  a  general  thing,  get  too  much  of  it. 

Seeing  little  or  nothing  more  to  be  accom- 
plished, I  now  offer  this  as  my  Perfected  Sys- 
tem of  making  Preserved  Green  Forage  without 
Heat  or  Fermention. 

SAMUEL  M.  COLCORD, 

DOVER,  MASS. 


THE  SYSTEM  AND  DEVICE. 


THE  name  of  "  ensilage "  has  been  applied 
to  all  kinds  of  green  forage  crops  that  have 
passed  through  silos.  It  was  first  introduced 
into  this  country  about  twelve  years  ago, 
through  the  publications  of  Monsieur  Auguste 
Goffart,  of  Sologne,  France.  The  art  of  pre- 
serving green  forage  without  desiccation  has 
often  been  attempted,  and  has  been  traced 
back  to  remote  antiquity;  but  to  M.  Goffart 
belong  the  invention  and  introduction  of 
ensilage  through  silos,  and  to  him  we  accord 
the  honor.  Any  person  who  has  made  a  study 
of  his  theory  and  practice,  and  who  has  studied 
the  art  as  practised  in  this  country  up  to  the 
present  time,  will  agree  with  me  that  the  closer 
one  follows  M.  Goffart's  system,  and  the  less 
he  follows  the  professed  improvements  on  his 
system,  as  practically  illustrated  in  this  coun- 
try, the  better  will  be  his  ensilage.  And  I 
feel  warranted  in  making  the  assertion  that 


14  .     Colcord^s  System  of 

M.  Goffart  was  producing  better  ensilage  in 
France,  twelve  years  ago,  than  is  being  made 
by  a  vast  majority  of  his  followers  in  this 
country  to-day,  notwithstanding  all  their  ex- 
periments and  attempted  improvements  upon 
his  system. 

M.  Goffart,  in  his  writings,  makes  this  state- 
ment :  — 

"  The  end  to  be  attained  is  to  prevent  ALL 
KINDS  OF  FERMENTATION,  before  and  after  en- 
silage. Fermentation  preserves  nothing ;  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  always  a  preliminary  step 
towards  a  decomposition  more  or  less  putrid^ 
towards  a  REAL  DESTRUCTION." 

M.  Goffart  always  worked  to  attain  the  end 
above  expressed,  as  nearly  as  possible ;  and, 
although  he  claimed  a  perfect  system  and  was 
very  particular  in  his  manipulations,  his  writ- 
ings show  that  he 'never  fully  realized  the  end 
he  sought,  but  always  speaks  of  his  ensilage 
as  heating  up  when  exposed  to  the  air,  taking 
on  the  alcoholic  fermentation,  then  running 
into  the  acetic,  and  finally  passing  into  the 
(  lactic  and  other  putrid  fermentations.  This 
would  not,  could  not,  have  been  the  case  if  he 
had  never  had  heat  and  fermentation  in  his 
silo. 

My  experience  is  that,  when  there  has  been 


Preserving  Green  Forage  15 

no  fermentation  in  the  silo,  the  forage  does 
not  heat  up  and  pass  through  the  alcoholic 
and  acetic  fermentation  to  lactic  and  putrid, 
but  sometimes  takes  on  a  mouldy  condition, 
which  develops  black  rot  and  causes  destruc- 
tion in  that  way.  This  may  be  called  fermen- 
tation, but  it  is  not  a  true  fermentation. 

That  I  have  succeeded,  after  years  of  study 
and  costly  experimenting,  in  perfectly  remov- 
ing air  from  the  silo,  preventing  heat  and 
fermentation,  and  Preserving  Green  Forage 
Corn  in  perfection,  will  be  demonstrated  in  the 
following  pages. 


OF   SILOS. 

A  really  good  silo  must  be  tight  and  strong 
and  impervious  to  air  and  water.  It  should 
have  a  good  foundation,  perfectly  drained  and 
perfectly  perpendicular,  smooth,  level-faced 
walls.  If  these  conditions  are  fulfilled,  it  is 
not  very  material  of  what  they  are  made ;  but, 
when  made  of  masonry,  all  forms  of  lime  must 
be  excluded,  as  acetic  acid  dissolves  the  lime. 
Cement  must  be  used  instead  of  lime  mortar. 

Good  silos  are  somewhat  expensive ;  but 
true  economy  points  in  the  direction  of  dura- 
bility, convenience  and  assured  success.  Their 


1 6  Colcord's  System  of 

attachment  to  the  barn,  for  convenience,  should 
be  provided  for ;  and  also  the  means  for  press- 
ing the  forage,  which  is  a  very  important  item 
in  economy,  time,  and  convenience.  Pressing 
by  jack-screws,  if  properly  arranged,  is  the 
most  simple,  convenient,  economical,  and  suc- 
cessful. It  is  accomplished  by  putting  iron 
rods,  1 34  inches  in  diameter,  in  the  centre  of 
the  side  walls,  from  fhe  foundation  up  to  from 
4  to  6  feet  above  the  top  of  the  silo,  said  rods 
being  made  with  broad  flanges  on  their  lower 
ends,  and  long  screws  on  their  upper  ends 
provided  to  receive  double  nuts  and  large 
washers,  these  rods  to  be  placed  in  rows 
commencing  and  ending  4  feet  from  each  end 
of  the  silo,  and  not  more  than  8  feet  apart, 
arranged  on  both  sides  alike.  The  opposite 
rods  should  be  tied  together  across  the  top, 
with  8x8  timbers  provided  with  holes,  so  that 
they  may  slip  loosely  upon  the  rods.  The  cap 
of  the  wall  should  be  6  x  8  timber,  set  back  2 
inches  from  the  inside  face  of  the  walls,  to 
receive  the  2-inch  plank  placed  around  the  top 
of  the  silo  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  light 
annex,  or  head-room,  from  3  to  6  feet  higher 
'than  the  silo  proper,  said  annex  to  be  filled 
with  forage  and  answering  the  purpose  of  so 
much  solid  wall.  The  forage  placed  in  the 


Preserving  Green  Forage  17 

annex,  when  pressed,  will  all  come  down  inside 
the  solid  walls.  Under  strong  pressure,  these 
walls  are  held  up  very  firmly  by  the  iron  rods, 
the  timber  across  the  top  acting  as  a  spring 
upon  the  forage.  In  this  way,  we  feel  sure  of 
the  strength  of  our  walls,  and  we  can  get  all 
the  pressure  we  want.  The  governors  convey 
the  abundance  of  juice  to  all  parts  of  the  silo 
evenly.  2x8  plank  studding,  to  support  the 
roof  of  the  silo,  should  be  placed  upon  the  cap, 
so  as  to  support  the  planks  placed  round  the 
top,  and  bring  them  just  level  with  the  silo 
wall.  In  this  way,  all  time,  trouble,  and  ex- 
pense of  weighting  are  avoided.  In  weighting, 
when  the  governor  is  used,  it  requires  about 
100  pounds  to  each  square  foot  of  surface, 
which  is  equal  to  200  or  300  pounds  where 
there  is  no  governor. 

In  the  very  centre  of  the  bottom  of  the  silo 
is  placed  one  end  of  the  drip  pipe  (seen  in  cuts, 
Figs,  i,  2,  letter  k,  page  41,  to  come  flush 
with  the  surface  of  the  bottom.  This  pipe 
should  be  about  3  inches  long,  made  of  rj£- 
inch  pipe,  screwed  into  an  elbow  at  the  bottom 
of  the  silo,  and  from  this  elbow  should  run  a 
horizontal  pipe  declining  6  inches  to  any  con- 
venient place  outside  and  from  underneath  the 
wall.  This  pipe  should  end  in  a  J.  to  turn  up, 


1 8  Colcord's  System  of 

with  a  stop-cock  in  the  end  of  the  J_  to  draw 
off  the  juice,  and  an  upright  pipe  from  the  _L 
to  come  up  outside  the  silo  (see  cut,  Figs,  i,  2, 
letter  1,  p.  41),  for  the  escape  of  the  air  and 
gases.  The  drip  pipe  forms  a  part  of  the  silo 
governor,  and  the  stop-cock  comes  over  a  little 
well  for  convenience  in  drawing  off  juice. 

It  is  usual  to  have  8  or  9  feet  head-room 
above  the  silo  wall,  for  convenience,  and  to  fill 
the  silo  above  the  wall  up  into  the  annex,  for 
economy.  This  head-room  is  also  useful  for 
storing  the  plank  covering  for  the  silo;  the 
planks  that  go  around  the  top  of  the  silo  to 
build  the  annex ;  the  6x8  timber  that  runs  the 
length  of  the  silo  across  the  cover  upon  which 
the  jack-screws  are  placed,  and  any  other  tim- 
ber or  article  of  use.  The  jack-screws  and 
blocking  are  placed  upon  the  cap  between  the 
studding,  so  that  all  the  timber  and  tools  are 
kept  at  the  top  where  they  are  wanted  and 
do  not  have  to  be  lowered  or  hoisted.  Each 
plank,  as  it  is  removed,  is  placed  in  the  head- 
room ;  and,  when  the  forage  is  all  fed  out, 
everything  is  in  place  for  the  next  season, 
and  the  silo  is  entirely  empty.  Viewed  from 
the  bottom,  it  appears  impossible  for  any  one 
to  get  at  the  top  for  theft  or  disarrangement. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  19 

FILLING   AND   EMPTYING   THE   SILO. 

We  do  not  care  to  tread  down  the  corn  as 
we  fill  the  silo,  but  only  keep  it  level  and  walk 
over  it  for  the  purpose  of  finding  soft  spots, 
which  we  fill  up  level.  When  we  get  the  silo 
full,  we  tread  it  hard  and  level,  rounding  it  up 
over  the  top,  even  above  the  cross  timbers, 
and  allow  it  to  remain  until  the  next  morning, 
when  we  level  it  and  tread  again ;  then  put  on 
cover,  and  then  the  6x8  cross  timbers  2  feet 
from  the  side  walls,  placing  the  jack-screws 
between  the  timbers.  The  governor  being  in 
place,  we  drop  a  thermometer,  appended  to  a 
string,  into  the  governor,  to  the  centre  of  the 
silo.  We  also  put  a  stick  in  the  upright  pipe 
of  the  bottom  governor,  said  stick  being  long 
enough  to  touch  the  bottom  of  the  pipe,  for 
the  purpose  of  measuring  the  juice.  We  take 
this  measure  daily ;  also  take  the  temperature 
daily,  and  press  as  often  as  required.  All  the 
corn  is  cut  to  half-inch  pieces,  and  is  therefore 
a  homogeneous  mass.  When  we  press  it,  we 
mark  a  long  stick  to  feet  and  inches,  setting  it 
opposite  to  one  of  the  screws.  We  then  turn 
down  that  screw  to  the  mark  we  wish  them  all 
to  go  to,  taking  the  stick  to  the  next  screw, 
and  so  on,  pressing  all  alike,  measuring  from 
the  top  of  the  silo  around  the  wall.  By  so 


2O  Colcord's  System  of 

doing,  we  press  all  the  contents  of  the  silo  to 
a  uniform  density,  the  forage  slipping  in  the 
silo,  and  finding  its  level  and  density  like  mor- 
tar in  a  bucket. 

Now,  we  are  supposed  to  have  a  silo  full  of 
this  preserved  forage,  20  feet  deep,  consisting 
of  from  i  to  400  tons.  We  have  a  door 
4*4  x  6  feet,  in  one  end  of  the  silo,  said  door 
opening  upon  the  barn  floor,  the  door-sill  being 
10  feet  from  the  bottom  of  the  silo.  We  now 
roll  the  door  to  one  side,  and  find  some  boards 
tacked  onto  the  edges  of  2  x  8  plank,  fastened 
with  4-inch  lag-screws  to  the  3x12  inch  door 
jams,  on  each  side,  leaving  the  2-inch  matched 
plank  flush  with  the  inside  of  the  silo.  We 
remove  the  boards,  then  the  wet  sand  between 
the  boards  and  plank,  then  the  side  plank, 
fastened  with  the  lag-screws,  then  the  inside 
plank,  the  removal  of  which  presents  a  solid 
wall  of  green  forage,  with  every  particle  of  it 
in  perfect  preservation  and  ready  to  feed  out, 
the  doorway  having  been  secured  air-tight. 
We  cut  this  preserved  forage  down,  vertically 
and  evenly,  with  a  sharp  lightning-hay-knife, 
leaving  a  solid,  smooth  face,  which  prevents 
the  air  from  getting  into  the  forage.  We  then 
discover  that  more  than  half  the  feed  has  to  be 
elevated  from  i  to  10  feet  to  the  barn  floor. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  21 

We  find  that  we  can  easily  elevate  or  depress 
the  cross  timbers  upon  the  iron  rods  any  re- 
quired distance,  blocking  the  ends  between  the 
cap  and  the  washers.  We  then  run  a  line  of 
6x6  timber  the  whole  length  of  the  silo  upon 
the  8x8  cross  timbers  in  the  centre,  securing 
them  with  lo-inch  lag-screws.  We  fasten  the 
hangers  of  the  track  to  the  bottom  of  the  6x6 
timber  in  the  centre  with  4-inch  lag-screws. 
We  then  place  the  3/6  x  3  inch  iron  in  the  slots 
at  the  bottom  of  the  hangers,  fastening  them 
by  turning  up  the  set-screws,  and  the  track  is 
complete.  This  track  is  furnished  with  a 
double-roller  troll,  and  is  quickly  put  up  by 
any  one  of  ordinary  capacity,  and  is  easily 
changed  or  removed  with  very  little  time  or 
trouble.  The  double-roller  troll,  with  the 
track  and  hangers,  is  made  by  R.  J.  Davies, 
Creek  Square,  Boston,  and  costs  from  $15 
to  $20. 


THE   FEED-BOX. 

A  feed-box,  made  of  stock  \y2  inches 
thick,  2  feet  deep,  4  feet  wide  outside  at  the 
top,  and  3  1-3  feet  wide  outside  at  the  bottom, 
with  perpendicular  ends  grooved  into  sides 
5  feet  long,  i  y2  inches  from  the  ends,  with 


22  Colcord^s  System  of 

the  bottom  projecting  i^  inches  all  around, 
securely  nailed  on,  will  hold  enough  to  feed 
25  head  of  cattle.  Being  in  constant  use,  it 
should  be  well  ironed  all  around  the  top  and 
down  the  ends,  at  the  sides,  and  securely  fast- 
ened together  by  ^  iron  rods,  with  nuts  upon 
each  end,  three  of  them  across  each  end,  going 
through  irons  on  the  outside.  This  box  is 
suspended  (see  cut,  p.  24)  on  a  y2  ton  compen- 
sated chain  hoist  by  a  chain  on  each  side  of 
the  box,  with  a  ring  in  the  centre,  the  ends 
of  the  chains  going  through  the  eye  of  an  iron 
at  the  top  of  the  box,  the  other  end  of  the 
iron  being  fastened  to  the  3/&  rod  running 
across  the  outside  ends  of  the  box  in  the 
centre ;  also,  by  bolts  near  the  chain,  so  that 
the  chains  will  be  in  line  from  the  ring  in  the 
centre  to  the  3/%  r°ds  supporting  the  box  from 
the  four  corners  at  the  centre,  the  rings  in  the 
centre  being  hooked  to  the  chain  hoist. 

An  iron  axle,  with  wheels  6^4  inches  in 
diameter,  is  securely  fastened  across  the  bottom 
of  the  box,  22  inches  from  one  end;  the  wheels 
have  i  y2  inch  tread,  and  run  close  to  the  box, 
and  have  a  wooden  shield  to  protect  them  from 
the  chain.  The  other  end  of  the  box  should 
be  run  upon  a  good  strong  castor  in  the  centre. 
This  will  enable  the  box  to  turn  and  run  in 
any  direction  from  the  silo  to  every  cow. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  23 

With  this  device,  one  man  can  feed  all  the 
cattle  with  less  labor  than  in  any  other  way ; 
in  fact,  it  seems  more  like  sport  than  work. 
The  box  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  silo,  and 
remains  just  where  we  want  it,  full  or  empty, 
at  any  elevation  we  may  be  removing  the 
forage  from  the  face  of  the  cut.  We  do  not 
have  to  lug  any  of  it.  Thus  arranged,  the 
device  seems  to  be  indestructible,  and  time, 
trouble,  and  labor  reduced  to  the  minimum. 
There  is  no  waste,  litter,  or  odor  about  the 
barn  or  silo.  The  box  rolls  out  of  the  silo 
upon  a  Fairbanks  scale,  every  ration  is  weighed, 
and  it  is  all  eaten  up  clean. 

The  cattle  require  only  about  one-half  the 
usual  quantity  of  water:  ours  drink  no  cold 
water,  and  the  results  are  shown  at  the  milk- 
pail,  the  scales,-  and  the  manure  pit.  In  fact, 
so  quickly  and  quietly  is  this  shown  in  prac- 
tical operation  that  it  takes  less  time  to  show 
it  than  it  does  to  tell  and  explain  it. 


Colcord's  System  of 


THE     FEED-BOX. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  25 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FEED-BOX. 

The  cut  represqnts  a  feed-box  capable  of 
holding  the  rations  for  25  head  of  cattle,  show- 
ing its  construction,  also  the  compensated 
chain  hoist  and  the  double-roller  troll  which 
runs  upon  the  track  over  the  silo.  When  the 
box  is  lowered  upon  the  barn  floor,  the  chains 
are  unhooked  from  the  hoist,  and  the  rings, 
by  which  it  is  shown  as  suspended,  are  placed 
in  the  hooks  upon  each  side  of  the  box,  leaving 
the  top  of  the  box  perfectly  free  and  without 
any  obstruction,  the  wheels  at  the  bottom 
allowing  the  box  to  turn  and  run  in  any  direc- 
tion. In  practical  use,  it  works  perfectly,  and 
is  found  to  be  the  most  convenient  and  expe- 
ditious way  of  conveying  the  forage  from  the 
silo  to  the  cattle. 

The  feed-box  is  hoisted  and  lowered  by  an 
endless  chain.  Said  chain  is  shown  in  the  cut 
as  hanging  loosely  against  the  sides  of  the 
box ;  but  quite  a  large  portion  of  its  length  is 
omitted  in  the  cut,  for  the  purpose  of  saving 
the  room  it  would  occupy  on  the  page  of  the 
book.  The  two  broken  ends  from  which  the 
omitted  portion  was  severed  are  shown  in 
the  cut  as  hanging  a  little  below  the  bottom 
of  the  box. 


26  Colcord's  System  of 

WEIGHTING  THE  SILO. 

Weighting  has  always  been  the  great  objec- 
tion to  silos:  how  to  put  on  and  take  off  20 
to  40  tons  of  weight,  when  time  is  precious, 
and  to  do  it  cleanly  and  neatly,  keeping  dirt, 
stones,  chips,  etc.,  .out  of  the  forage,  and  not 
making  a  litter  about  the  barn,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  continual  expense,  especially  when  the 
weighting  has  to  be  hoisted  and  lowered. 
Boxes  and  barrels  are  constantly  coming  to 
pieces,  and  not  convenient  to  handle.  Of 
course,  the  weight  upon  the  forage  is  what  we 
must  have,  and  the  cheapest  way  to  get  it 
there  is  by  some  thought  to  be  the  best ;  but, 
in  taking  the  weight  off,  it  is  very  important 
to  keep  it  upon  every  plank  that  you  do  not 
take  off,  to  enable  you  to  make  the  vertical  cut 
on  the  forage  when  removing  it  to  feed  out 
I  will  here  suggest  the  best  method  of  weight- 
ing. Take  a  piece  of  board,  i  inch  thick,  12 
inches  long,  and  16  inches  wide,  for  the  bottom 
of  a  box,  2  pieces  18  inches  long  and  24  inches 
wide  for  the  sides,  and  2  pieces  25  inches  long 
and  10  inches  wide  for  the  ends.  Place  the 
sides  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  bottom,  and 
the  ends  on  the  vertical  ends  of  the  bottom; 
nail  them  firmly  together,  and  you  will  have  a 


Preserving  Green  Forage  27 

box  in  which  none  of  the  nails  will  be  driven 
into  the  wood  parallel  with  the  grain,  and  each 
attachment  will  act  as  a  cleat  across  the  boards, 
to  prevent  their  warping  or  splitting.  These 
boxes  are  intended  to  be  placed  close  together 
upon  the  2x12  inch  plank  covering  the  silo, 
said  boxes  having  no  cleats  on  the  outside. 
Put  cleats  2^  inches  wide,  bevelled  at  the  top, 
across  the  ends  on  the  inside  of  the  box.  Two 
men  can  use  these  cleats  as  handles,  and  also 
to  hoist  with,  by  using  an  A  shaped  iron  having 
an  eye  in  its  top,  and  turned  out  one  inch  each 
side  at  the  bottom,  to  go  under  the  cleats. 
They  may  be  filled  with  sand  or  loam  for 
bedding  and  to  absorb  liquid  manure,  or  may 
be  used  for  gravel  for  weighting  only.  For 
strength,  durability,  and  convenience,  they  are 
unrivalled.  The  word  "long,"  as  used  above, 
means  measuring  with  the  grain,  and  the  word 
"wide"  means  measuring  crosswise  of  the 
grain.  As  it  is  sometimes  very  difficult  to  find 
boards  24  inches  wide  crosswise  of  the  grain, 
4  pieces  18  inches  long  and  12  inches  wide 
will  serve  to  make  the  sides,  instead  of  the 
1 8  x  24  inch  stuff. 

Two  hundred  and  fifty  boxes,  made  in  the 
above  manner,  at  25  cents  each,  would  cost 
$62.50.  Flour  barrels  would  cost  about  half 


28  Colcord's  System  of 

that  price,  and  iron  rods  and  jack-screws  would 
cost  about  $62.50.     The  boxes  would  last  31 
years,  or  $2.00  a  year;  the  barrels,  3  years,  or 
$10.00  a  year;  the  screws  and  rods,  70  years, 
or,  say,  $1.00  a  year.     But  the  time,  accuracy, 
and   convenience    of   the    screws  wrould  more 
than   double   the    economy   of    the    boxes    or 
barrels,    and    should   be    reckoned  at  only  50 
cents  a  year.     I  esteem  the  value  of  the  rods, 
for  strength  and  security,  fully  equal  to  their 
value  in  pressing  the  forage;    and,  if    I  were 
building   a   cheap   wooden   silo,  I  should  put 
them  in,  first  building  a  good  1 8-inch  cement 
wall,  3  feet  high,  upon  a  good  foundation,  well 
drained,  setting  my  wood  silo  upon  it,  putting 
a   timber   between   each    rod   and   the   inside 
double  boarding,  with  2  x   12  inch    studding, 
filled    around    the   bottom    with   cement   and 
gravel,  and  between  the  out  and  inside  board- 
ing  with   sawdust   to   keep   out  the  frost.     I 
would   also   spike   2-inch  plank  firmly  around 
the    outside,    at  the  top,  middle,  and  bottom, 
because  you  want  to  be  sure  of  your  8  or  10 
months'  food  for  your  cattle,  and  silos  are  so 
difficult  and  expensive  to  repair,  if   the  walls 
give  way.     Built  in  this  way,  wooden  silos  are 
easily  converted  into  cement  ones,  which  are 
sure  to  be  wanted  in  the  future,  and  are  always 
permanent  and  require  no  repairs. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  29 

There  are  other  methods  of  getting  pressure, 
—  with  levers,  also  with  water;  but  these  are 
no  cheaper  and  not  so  convenient,  because 
with  jack-screws,  costing  from  $2  to  $4  each, 
you  can  remove  the  screws  and  blocking  at 
pleasure,  and  set  them  back  as  you  cut  down, 
keeping  the  pressure  on,  which  is  a  great 
advantage.  But  with  water,  even  if  you  have 
an  aqueduct  to  run  the  water  in  and  out  the 
barrels  with  a  hose,  the  water  may  freeze;  and 
the  barrels  are  always  in  the  way  and  cost 
more  than  to  press  with  screws  and  rods. 

It  does  not  work  well  to  have  a  double  cover 
running  lengthwise  and  crosswise  the  silo,  for 
you  cannot  remove  part  of  it  at  a  time.  The 
best  cover  is  2-inch  plank,  laid  directly  upon 
the  forage,  with  6x6  timber  laid  across  length- 
wise, about  3  feet  from  the  side  walls,  to  keep 
the  plank  level.  Uncover  no  faster  than  you 
cut  down.  I  have  found  by  repeated  examina- 
tions that,  when  you  uncover  the  whole  top  to 
feed  out,  by  forking  it  off,  the  top,  owing 
to  exposure  to  the  air,  is  about  twice  as  sour 
as  it  is  about  2  feet  below  where  you  fork  from, 
so  that  the  stock  get  twice  as  much  acid  as 
there  is  any  occasion  for,  and  often  more  than 
is  healthy. 


30  Colcord's  System  of 


THE  CROP  TO  PRESERVE. 

Almost  any  kind  of  green  forage  can  be 
preserved  in  silos.  The  general  conditions  to 
be  observed,  in  putting  it  in  the  silo,  are  to 
have  it  a  homogeneous  mass  when  pressed. 
For  this  reason  it  should  be  cut  fine,  especially 
when  the  stalks  are  coarse  and  hard  like  corn. 
It  is  much  better  to  have  but  one  kind  of  fod- 
der in  the  silo  at  the  same  time,  for  the  reason 
that  the  softest  kind,  if  more  than  one  variety 
is  used,  will  pack  quicker,  and  hard  enough  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  air  and  gas.  The  air 
and  gas  will  collect  in  spots,  and  set  up  heat 
and  fermentation ;  but,  if  the  mass  is  in  uni- 
form condition,  evenly  spread  and  pressed,  the 
air  may  all  be  removed  from  it  without  diffi- 
culty, which  will  insure  good  preserved  forage. 

There  may  be  cases  where  there  is  a  heavy 
crop  of  coarse  marsh  grass,  fresh  or  salt,  which 
does  not  require  cultivation,  and  is  convenient 
to  the  silo,  that  would  pay  to  cut  up  and  pre- 
serve, in  which  case  it  would  greatly  enhance 
its  value  for  feeding. 

There  are  sections  at  the  South  where  some 
heavy  crops  grow  without  cultivation  that 
would  make  good  feed  for  cattle,  and  would 


Preserving  Green  Forage  31 

be  greatly  increased  in  feeding  value  by  pres- 
ervation in  the  silo,  but  which  would  be  com- 
paratively valueless  preserved  by  desiccation. 
A  case  in  point  is  the  Roman  wormwood,  the 
common  ragweed  of  the  North,  which  I  have 
known  to  be  ensiloed,  and  is  said  to  have  made 
a  very  palatable  food.  But  to  raise  a  crop  of 
anything  else  for  the  silo,  on  land  upon  which 
Indian  corn  will  grow,  seems  to  be  a  waste  of 
time  and  money.  It  is  better  to  plough  under 
the  crop  of  weeds  before  they  go  to  seed, 
and  plant  a  crop  of  mammoth  ensilage  corn. 
When  you  do  this,  you  are  feeding  the  land 
as  well  as  the  cattle,  at  the  same  time,  much 
more  economically. 


MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  CROP. 

Indian  corn,  above  all  other  plants,  is  the 
crop  for  the  silo,  because  it  is  the  best  food,  is 
greatly  increased  in  feeding  value  by  soaking 
in  its  own  juice  in  the  silo  under  pressure,  is 
a  great  appetizer  in  this  form,  is  more  assimi- 
lable as  food,  and  the  plant,  or  corn,  in  the 
milk  does  not  have  the  injurious  effect  of  corn- 
meal.  From  20  to  40  tons  can  be  raised  to 
the  acre  of  land,  3  tons  of  it  being  equal  in 
feeding  value  to  i  ton'  of  hay.  It  is  easily 


32  Colcord^s  System  of 

planted  in  drills,  3  feet  apart,  one  kernel  every 
6  inches,  by  an  Eclipse  Corn  Planter,  which 
plants  500  pounds  of  fertilizer  in  the  drill,  at 
the  same  time  covering  it  and  the  corn,  and 
rolling  it  all,  at  one  operation,  at  the  rate  of 
4  acres  daily. 

The  best  results  I  have  had  in  crops  have 
been  obtained  by  using  J.  A.  Tucker  &  Co.'s 
Bay  State  Superphosphates,  500  pounds  being 
spread  broadcast  upon  small  loads  of  manure 
by  a  manure  spreader,  harrowed  in,  500  pounds 
also  in  the  drill,  as  above  stated;  and  I  will 
here  add  that  one  of  the  best  things  about  the 
Eclipse  Planter  is  that  every  kernel  of  the 
corn  comes  up  evenly,  and  the  crows  will  never 
pull  up  any  of  it. 

About  the  seed  I  plant,  I  have  had  the  best 
results  from  C.  H.  Thompson  &  Co.'s  "  Mam- 
moth  Ensilage  "  and  the  "  Red  Cob  Ensilage  " 
from  St.  Louis.  When  there  is  a  good  oppor- 
tunity to  market  sweet  corn,  the  best  of  it  can 
be  selected  for  market,  leaving  the  forage  in 
good  condition  for  the  silo.  The  best  variety 
I  have  found  for  this  purpose  is  "  Stowel's 
Evergreen." 

In  estimating  the  capacity  of  the  silo,  after 
the  forage  is  heavily  pressed,  a  cubic  foot  will 
weigh  about  50  pounds,  usually  a  trifle  under, 


Preserving  Green  Forage  33 

so  that  it  is  very  easy  to  calculate  how  much 
to  plant,  how  much  to  feed,  and  how  long  it 
will  last. 

The  "Dr.  Bailey's  Ensilage  Cutter"  will  cut 
and  elevate  from  40  to  100  tons  daily,  with  a 
6  to  8  horse-power  engine  and  boiler.  The 
corn  can  be  harvested  and  put  into  the  silo  in 
almost  any  weather,  hot  or  cold,  dry  or  wet 
(unless  it  rains  too  hard  to  work  in  the  field), 
with  less  trouble,  in  less  time,  more  security, 
and  greater  surety  of  perfect  preservation,  than 
any  fodder  crop  can  be  harvested  in  any  other 
way. 

We  have  the  statement  of  M.  Goffart,  who 
has  tried  it  for  many  years,  that  Indian  corn 
can  be  raised  continuously,  year  after  year, 
upon  the  same  ground,  by  spreading  upon  the 
manure  piles,  each  week,  100  pounds  of  ground 
bone  to  the  equivalent  of  manure  used  upon 
an  acre  of  land.  I  give  my  authority  for  this 
statement,  because  I  have  not  tried  it  in  this 
way.  M.  Goffart  also  states  that  he  raises 
about  40  tons  of  fodder  corn  to  the  acre,  upon 
land  fertilized  in  this  way,  upon  the  same  land 
continuously,  and  the  forage  keeps  his  cattle 
in  perfect  health  year  after  year. 


34  Colcor&s  System  of 


FERMENTATION  IN  SILOS. 

Chemistry  teaches  us  that  fermentation 
takes  place  in  the  following  order:  first,  the 
saccharine;  second,  the  alcoholic;  third,  the 
acetic ;  fourth,  the  lactic ;  then  a  variety  of 
other  fermentations,  either  in  quick  succession 
or  found  to  exist  at  the  same  time  in  the  same 
substance.  These  transformations  are  accom- 
panied with  heat.  At  the  fourth  change,  the 
heat  is  generally  above  86°,  and  germs  of 
bacteria  are  developed,  and  we  have  true  fer- 
mentation, with  continued  evolution  of  Car- 
bonic and  Acetic  Acids,  in  connection  with  a 
variety  of  putrid  fermentations.  These  con- 
tinue with  rapid  decomposition  and  recomposi- 
tion,  with  increasing  heat,  until  the  mass  goes 
to  destruction,  more  or  less  quickly. 

In  silos,  these  germs  of  bacteria  are  sup- 
posed to  get  into  the  silos  with  the  air,  at  the 
time  of  filling.  They  develop  very  rapidly, 
and  multiply  indefinitely,  by  subdivision.  The 
germs  will  germinate  into  living  activity  at  86° 
of  heat,  and  will  germinate  after  exposure  to 
a  heat  of  212°  for  some  hours;  but  the  devel- 
oped bacteria  will  be  killed  at  a  temperature 
as  low  as  122°.  Bacteria  live  upon  oxygen, 


Preserving  Green  Forage  35 

which  they  may  get  from  the  air,  or  they  may 
get  it  from  the  sugar  and  starch  in  the  corn, 
direct,  without  air.  They  live  and  thrive  in  an 
atmosphere  of  carbonic  acid. 

Now,  with  this  explanation,  how  is  it  possu 
ble  for  corn  to  be  placed  with  safety  in  a  silo 
slowly,  when  mixed  with  all  the  air  possible  to 
get  in  with  it,  heating  in  the  centre  enough 
to  kill  bacteria,  and  toward  the  sides  the 
proper  temperature  to  develop  germs  into  the 
greatest  activity,  the  bacteria  in  the  mean  time 
multiplying  indefinitely  by  subdivision  in  the 
best  medium,  sugar  and  starch,  for  supporting 
their  life, —  I  ask  how  is  it  possible  to  stop 
such  fermentation  before  the  contents  of  the 
silo  spoil  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  suppose  the  heat  does 
not  rise  above  86°,  true  fermentation  does  not 
take  place,  but  the  action  of  the  air  upon  the 
forage,  with  moisture,  develops  a  fungus  growth 
upon  the  outside  of  the  forage,  which  may 
continue,  passing  through  mould  and  black 
rot  to  destruction.  This  often  happens  in 
corn  fodder  when  the  process  of  desiccation 
has  been  imperfectly  performed,  but  true  fer- 
mentation in  the  silo  evolves  and  often  ends 
in  a  light  or  dirty  yellow  residuum,  with  foul 
odors,  more  or  less  pronounced,  nauseating 


36  Colcord's  System  of 

and  offensive.  These  conditions  are  usually 
found  after  heat  and  fermentation,  just  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  air  taken  into  and 
retained  in  the  silo. 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  a  rationale,  as  I 
understand  it,  of  the  process  of  fermentation 
found  in  the  silo.  But  in  my  practical  obser- 
tions  I  have  found  that,  as  quickly  as  I  could 
fill  my  silo,  Carbonic  Acid  was  also  there,  in 
quantity,  the  morning  after  the  first  day,  and 
Acetic  Acid,  in  quantity,  the  morning  after 
the  second  day.  My  natural  senses  did  not 
detect  the  presence  of  the  saccharine  or  alco- 
holic fermentation.  I  did  not  get  up  in  the 
night  to  call  the  roll,  but  found  the  substitutes 
in  the  morning,  and  have  never  since  seen  the 
delinquents  to  know  them.  I  don't  propose  to 
contradict  science,  but  I  do  propose  to  apply 
and  use  it  according  to  my  experience,  and  the 
HARD,  COLD  FACTS  which  have  confronted  me. 
I  know  that,  if  I  get  all  the  air  out  of  my  silo, 
I  do  not  have  heat  or  fermentation,  conse- 
quently no  loss  of  fodder  and  no  foul  odor; 
and  I  have  come  to  look  upon  Carbonic  and 
Acetic  Acids  as  MY  FRIENDS,  in  consequence  of 
their  early  calls  and  assistance,  in  helping  me 
to  develop  and  perfect  my  system  of  perfectly 
Preserving  Green  Forage  in  its  best  condition. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  37 


THE  SILO  GOVERNOR. 

Whenever  forage  is  pressed  in  a  silo,  it 
packs  where  it  is  most  dense,  and  becomes 
so  hard  that  the  air  can  neither  get  out  of 
the  corn  nor  out  of  the  silo.  It  therefore  re- 
mains in,  and  is  pressed  into  the  forage,  which 
causes  it  to  heat  and  ferment;  it  also  prevents 
the  corn  from  settling  as  it  should,  and  acts 
as  an  air  cushion,  which  causes  lateral  press- 
ure upon  the  silo  walls,  and  prevents  settling 
enough  to  get  juice  at  the  bottom,  and  bring- 
ing it  throughout  the  mass  to  the  top.  We 
therefore  lose  the  great  benefit  of  having  a 
quantity  of  free  juice  in  the  silo,  which  benefit 
consists  in  reducing  the  temperature,  making 
the  forage  soft  and  pulpy,  rendering  it  more 
assimilable,  and  greatly  increasing  its  feeding 
value.  After  Carbonic  Acid  has  performed 
its  office  of  displacing  the  air  from  the  silo, 
it  is  absorbed  by  the  juice,  causing  a  partial 
vacuum,  which  causes  the  juice  to  rise  gradu- 
ally to  the  top,  and  is  kept  there,  under  press- 
ure, by  absorption  and  capillary  attraction. 

These  operations  are  all  brought  about 
and  controlled  by  the  silo  governor.  Its 
action  commences  on  the  first  day  of  filling, 


38  Colcord^s  System  of 

and  goes  on  continuously  for  about  two 
months,  when  the  silo  is  ready  to  be  opened. 
Briefly  stated,  it  collects  the  air  from  all  parts 
of  the  silo,  conveying  it  to  the  outside.  When 
the  Carbonic  Acid  appears,  being  heavier  than 
air,  it  sinks  to  the  bottom  as  it  permeates  the 
forage,  displacing  the  air,  which  it  does  grad- 
ually and  quietly,  without  mixing  with  it :  the 
silo  governor  alao  conveys  the  surplus  quantity 
of  Carbonic  Acid  outside,  in  the  same  manner; 
it  also  operates  in  the  same  way  with  Acetic 
Acid.  These  two  acids  and  air  are  the  only 
gases  we  have  to  contend  with  when  we  use 
the  governor,  which  so  perfectly  removes  and 
governs  them  that  we  never  have  heat  or 
fermentation ;  consequently,  no  decomposition 
or  development  of  foul  odors.  We  keep  a 
thermometer  in  the  centre  of  the  silo,  and 
examine  it  frequently:  we  also  measure  the 
quantity  of  juice  in  the  bottom  of  the  silo 
daily,  or  as  often  as  is  necessary,  by  running 
a  long  stick  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  per- 
pendicular pipe  of  the  lower  governor.  We 
get  all  the  juice  wanted  from  the  corn,  allow- 
ing it  to  accumulate  on  the  bottom  20  to  30 
inches  deep.  This  last  season,  we  had  6 
inches  of  juice  before  we  could  put  on  the 
cover  to  press;  the  year  before,  we  had  2 
inches.  This  year  we  had  a  surplus  of  juice, 


Preserving  Green  Forage  39 

and  have  been  feeding  from  50  to  100  pounds 
daily,  mixed  with  the  shorts,  to  our  milkers. 
This  juice  was  drawn  off,  clear,  sweet,  and 
odorless,  from  the  bottom  of  the  silo. 

The  governor  collects  and  distributes  the 
juice  to  and  from  all  parts  of  the  silo,  and  con- 
veys the  surplus  from  the  centre  to  the  outside, 
under  the  cemented  bottom,  to  be  drawn  off 
as  wanted.  In  making  ensilage  where  no 
governor  is  used,  it  is  seldom  that  any  juice 
collects  in  the  silo,  even  with  i  to  200  pounds' 
weight  upon  each  square  foot  of  surface ;  so 
that  pressing  green  forage  by  this  system 
requires  not  half  the  pressure  to  produce 
better  results,  with  much  greater  economy. 
In  controlling  the  operations  inside  the  silo, 
we  are  guided  quite  as  much  by  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  juice  as  by  the  gases,  odor, 
and  temperature. 

Carbonic  Acid  is  perfectly  wholesome  in 
the  stomach,  and  performs  a  good  use  in  the 
silo;  but  it  is  necessary  to  be  very  careful 
working  in  a  silo  where  it  is,  as  no  breathing 
animal  can  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  it  more 
than  a  few  minutes.  Acetic  Acid  is  also  very 
plentiful  in  the  silo,  and  quite  wholesome.  It 
is  the  acid  that  causes  the  sour  taste  in  every 
silo ;  and  we  are  apt  to  get  too  much  of  it,  as 
it  is  readily  absorbed  by  the  juice.  But  a 


4<D  Colcord^s  System  of 

great  deal  of  it  is  taken  out,  through  the 
governor,  in  a  gaseous  or  vapor  state.  When 
this  acid  remains  in  a  silo  that  has  had  no 
heat  or  fermentation  in  it,  it  is  quite  pure,  and 
renders  the  -  food  more  palatable ;  but,  when 
fermentation  is  present,  it  becomes  decom- 
posed, loses  its  acidity,  and  assists  in  produc- 
ing foul  odors,  with  a  nauseous,  putrid  smell 
and  taste.  This  state  of  things,  more  or  less 
pronounced,  is  what  constitutes  the  difference 
in  the  quality  of  ensilage ;  and  its  effects  are 
noticed  in  the  taste  and  smell,  the  foul  odor 
imparted  to  the  silo  and  barn,  and  upon  the 
hands  and  clothing.  Even  the  small  quantity 
which  the  cattle  can  eat  of  it  produces  a 
nauseating  effect ;  and  the  bad  effect  produced 
by  it  in  milk,  cream,  and  butter,  especially 
when  fed  to  delicate  children,  is  positively 
unhealthy,  not  only  to  them,  but  to  man  or 
beast.  Such  a  condition  may  be  easily  and 
entirely  avoided  in  the  preservation  of  green 
forage,  and  never  exists  where  there  is  no 
heat  or  fermentation,  or  where  the  governors 
are  used,  in  a  good  silo,  to  prevent  it. 

With  good  smooth  walls,  held  up  with  iron 
rods  built  into  them,  with  the  governor  to  take 
out  the  air  and  gases,  we  have  but  little  lateral 
pressure ;  and  yet  we  bring  immense  vertical 
pressure  to  bear  directly  and  uniformly,  which 


Preserving  Green  Forage 


condenses  the  forage,  without  impacted  strata 
in  the  mass,  giving  us  results,  without  fear  of 
accident,  not  obtainable  by  any  other  means. 


CUT    OF    SILO    GOVERNOR. 

fig! 


42  Cole orcl's  System  of 


DESCRIPTION   OF  THE  SILO  GOVERNOR. 

Figure  i  is  a  top  view  of  a  silo  ready  to 
receive  the  ensilage,  and  showing  a  portion  of 
my  apparatus  resting  on  the  floor. 

Figure  2  is  a  vertical  section  cut  on  the  line 
xx  of  Figure  i. 

Figure  3  is  a  portion  of  pipe,  on  an  enlarged 
scale,  taken  from1  one  of  the  front  corners  of 
the  apparatus,  and  placed  bottom  side  up  to 
show  the  air  holes  on  its  under  side. 

Figure  4  is  a  top  view,  on  an  enlarged  scale, 
of  a  portion  of  the  bottom  of  the  silo  before 
the  principal  portion  of  my  apparatus  has  been 
placed  in  position,  showing  the  upturned  end 
of  the  drip  pipe,  and  the  strainer  in  its  mouth. 

Figure  5  is  a  section  of  portion  of  pipe  and 
elbow,  on  an  enlarged  scale,  showing  the 
wooden  peg  which  prevents  the  pipe  from 
turning  in  its  bearings. 

I  construct  my  apparatus  as  follows :  I  take 
iron  pipes  a  a  of  any  dimensions  desired,  and 
join  them  together  so  as  to  form  a  frame  A, 
with  a  continuous  air  connection  (which  also 
communicates  with  the  drip  pipe  b],  by  screw- 
ing each  of  the  ends  of  the  pipe  a  and  a,  into 
its  connecting  elbow  8  or  coupling  9,  as  shown 


Preserving  Green  Forage  43 

at  c.  The  ends  10  and  12  of  the  pipes  a  are 
thrust  or  telescoped  into  their  connecting 
elbow  8  and  their  couplings  9,  as  shown  in 
Figures  i,  3,  and  5.  All  the  horizontal  pipes, 
except  the  drip  pipe  b,  which  runs  toward  the 
side  wall  of  the  silo  B,  are  perforated  on  their 
under  side  with  holes  about  one-fourth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter,  and  about  six  inches  distant 
from  each  other,  as  seen  in  Figures  3  and.  5; 
the  ends  10  of  the  pipes  a  are  each  held  in 
position  by  a  small  wooden  peg  or  pin  £,  as 
shown  in  Figures  f,  3,  and  5. 

A  T-coupling  f  is  screwed  on  to  the  project- 
ing end  of  the  drip  pipe  b,  and  the  vertical  pipe 
g  is  screwed  into  the  upright  branch  of  said 
coupling  f;  the  vertical  pipe  g  affording  an 
outlet  or  means  of  escape  from  the  silo  for  the 
air  and  gases.  The  pipes  a  a,  which  extend 
transversely  across  the  centre  of  frame  A, 
from  side  to  side,  are  screwed  into  the  coup- 
lings 9,  9  and  z,  the  downward  branch  of  the 
latter  coupling  fitting  loosely  within  the  up- 
turned end  of  the  drip  pipe  b.  The  water, 
juices,  etc.,  from  the  forage,  are  drawn  off 
when  desired  through  the  drip  pipe  b,  the  outer 
end  of  which  is  provided  with  a  stopper  k; 
but  a  faucet  may  be  employed  instead  of  the 
stopper,  if  preferred. 


44  Colcord's  System  of 

The  mouth  of  the  vertical  pipe  g  I  close  with 
a  stopper  /,  or  with  a  cap. 

If  the  silo  has  a  capacity  of  over  150  tons,  or 
is  more  than  fifteen  feet  deep,  the  apparatus 
for  the  bottom  of  the  silo  being  in  place,  the 
cut  corn  is  piled  upon  it  in  the  usual  way;  and, 
when  the  silo  is  about  half  full,  another  appa- 
ratus, or  frame  A,  not  differing  materially  from 
that  on  the  bottom  of  the  silo,  excepting  that 
its  vertical  pipe  m,  which  performs  the  same 
office  as  the  vertical  pipe  g,  and  also  has  its 
mouth  closed  by  a  stopper,  rises  from  the  in- 
side of  the  silo,  as  seen  in  Figure  2. 

For  the  better  support  of  the  second  frame 
A,  and  to  prevent  the  small  holes  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  pipe  from  becoming  stopped  with 
the  forage,  it  is  placed  on  a  skeleton  plat- 
form n,  Figure  2,  composed  of  narrow  strips 
of  furring ;  and  upon  this  platform  n,  with  the 
frame  upon  it,  the  cut  corn  is  piled  until  the 
silo  is  filled.  To  secure  the  second  frame  A 
in  its  place  on  the  skeleton  platform  n,  nails  or 
staples  are  driven  into  the  platform  for  that 
purpose.  As  soon  as  the  silo  is  filled,  the  ordi- 
nary planks  are  put  upon  the  top  of  the  for- 
age, and  the  weight  placed  on  said  plank. 
Nothing  should  be  put  between  the  forage 
and  the  plank. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  45 

When  the  freshly  cut  corn  is  placed  in  the 
silo,  it  has  not  yet  had  time  to  become  much 
wilted,  if,  indeed,  it  is  wilted  at  all.  Conse- 
quently, the  air  which  remains  in  contact  with 
it  there,  is  in  a  much  freer  condition  than  it  is 
after  it  has  wilted ;  for  through  the  operation 
of  wilting  the  said  air  becomes  much  more  in- 
timately associated  with  it,  and  much  more 
difficult  to  separate  from  it.  Therefore,  dur- 
ing the  process  of  filling  the  silo  containing 
my  apparatus,  a  large  portion  of  the  air  in 
contact  with  the  forage  will  be  taken  into 
the  pipes  a  a,  and  escape  into  the  surround- 
ing atmosphere  through  the  vertical  pipes  g 
and  m. 

The  parts  of  the  governor  are  now  made  to 
be  screwed  together,  which  is  found  to  be  pref- 
erable to  "  sleeving "  them  together,  as  was 
formerly  done.  Right-hand  screws  are  used 
at  every  joint,  excepting  the  right  and  left 
couplings  at  the  cross-sections. 

*  We  take  the  perpendicular  pipes  from  any 
part  of  the  governors.  When  used  to  take 
temperature,  they  are  taken  up  through  the 
centre  of  the  silo.  The  cut  in  Figure  2  repre- 
sents a  pipe  taken  up  at  one  side,  about  6 
inches  from  the  wall. 

In  opening  the  silo  to    remove  the  forage, 


46  Colcord's  System  of 

when  the  first  part  of  the  frame  A  of  the  ap- 
paratus is  reached,  the  pipe  a  nearest  to  the 
front  end  r  of  the  silo  B  is  pulled  away  from 
its  connections  with  the  adjacent  longitudinal 
pipes  a,  and  the  latter  are  then  also  removed, 
the  pegs  e,  which  held  the  pipes  a  in  position, 
having  been  first  taken  out,  or  broken  off. 

As  the  work  of  discharging  the  silo  pro- 
ceeds, on  arriving  at  the  central  portion,  the 
pipes  a,  with  their  couplings  9,  9,  z,  after  pegs 
e  have  been  removed,  can  be  pulled  out  and 
lifted  from  their  place,  and  their  adjacent  lon- 
gitudinal pipes  a  drawn  out,  leaving  only  the 
pipe  a  at  the  rear  part  of  the  silo  to  be  re- 
moved when  reached. 

In  building  a  new  silo,  I  place  the  drip  pipe 
<5,  Figure  2,  so  that  its  upturned  end  will  be 
flush  with  the  surface  of  the  bottom  of  the 
silo.  Just  below  the  surface  of  its  upturned 
end,  I  place  a  strainer  s,  Figures  2  and  4, 
which  will  allow  water  and  juice  to  pass  freely, 
but  will  arrest  coarse  pieces  of  matter. 

When  liquid  rises  in  the  pipe  g,  it  can  be 
drawn  off  by  removing  the  stopper  k. 

The  silo  governor  has  air  passages  within 
three  to  four  feet  of  every  part  of  the  forage 
to  the  outside  of  the  silo,  from  which  to  dis- 
charge the  air,  not  only  after  it  is  packed,  but 
while  it  is  being  filled. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  47 

Air  can  be  taken  out  of  the  silo  in  larger 
quantities  from  the  bottom  and  central  parts 
of  the  silo  than  can  escape  from  the  top. 

While  the  air  is  going  out  of  the  silo,  there 
can  be  no  ingress;  and,  as  soon  as  egress 
ceases,  the  air  passages  should  be  closed,  by 
stopping  the  mouths  of  the  perpendicular  pipes 
g  and  m. 

The  governor  will  take  off  the  lateral  press- 
ure from  the  walls.  There  will  be  nothing 
like  the  pressure  of  an  air  cushion  in  the  nat- 
ure of  hydrostatic  pressure.  But  there  must 
be  weight  enough  upon  the  ensilage  to  press 
it  to  such  a  degree  that  it  may  be  cut  verti- 
cally from  top  to  bottom,  leaving  a  smooth, 
solid  front  to  prevent  the  ingress  and  action  of 
the  air. 


Colcord's  System  of 


A  HALF  EMPTY  SILO. 

The  following  cut  is  introduced  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  showing  the  situation  of  the  two 
governors  when  one-half  the  ensilage  has  been 
removed.  It  also  shows  the  vertical  pipes. 


SILAGE  versus  DRY  FODDER. 

Professor  Arnold,  being  asked  why  three 
tons  of  good  silage  have  a  feeding  value  of  one 
ton  of  the  best  hay,  replied  that  in  green 


Preserving  Green  Forage  49 

succulent  foods  the  cellular  tissues  have  not 
been  converted  into  woody  fibre,  and  in  masti- 
cation and  digestion  all  of  the  nutritive  sub- 
stances in  these  cells  are  quickly  acted  upon 
by  the  saliva  of  the  mouth,  and  then  the  gas- 
tric juices  of  the  stomach,  and  all  the  nutri- 
ment is  assimilated  with  only  a  minimum 
expenditure  of  force  by  the  animal  economy 
to  digest  it.  The  natural  moisture  of  the 
plants,  when  green,  also  acts  as  a  compensa- 
tion, and  requires  but  little  beyond  the  gastric 
juice  to  make  the  food  fluid  enough  for  diges- 
tion. With  dry  food,  nature  is  heavily  taxed 
at  all  points  t  to  make  good  the  loss  of  the 
juices  or  moisture  of  the  food.  The  secretions 
of  the  mouth  are  called  upon  to  moisten  the 
dry  food.  The  woody  fibre  of  the  plants  must 
be  broken  down  and  disintegrated  by  the  power 
of  gastric  juice  to  set  free  the  real  nutriment  of 
the  food.  This  force  is  several  times  greater 
than  is  necessary  when  succulent  food  is  fed. 
All  this  extra  expenditure  of  force  must  be 
supplied  by  the  animal,  and  therefore  calls  for 
an  increased  amount  of  food  to  make  good  this 
demand,  or  else  the  animal  falls  off  in  flesh. 


50  Colcord^s  System  of 


EXPERIMENTS   WITH    ENSILAGE. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  York 
State  Agricultural  Society,  recently  held  at 
Albany,  Dr.  E.  L.  Sturtevant,  director  of  the 
State  Experimental  Station  at  Geneva,  read  a 
paper  on  ensilage,  an  abstract  of  which  we  give 
herewith :  — 

In  the  experiments  carried  out  last  year  at 
the  station,  sweet  food,  purposely  acidified 
with  a  measured  quantity  of  acetic  acid  in 
about  the  same  proportion  as  analysis  showed 
to  exist  in  ensilage,  gave  better  results  in 
milk  and  by  live  weight  than  Hid  the  same 
food  without  the  acid ;  and  the  doubling  of 
the  acid  ration  was  followed  by  an  increased 
improvement  in  quantity  of  product.  A  care- 
ful examination  into  the  kinds  of  food  fed 
during  the  various  periods  showed  that  one 
apparent  effect  .of  the  acid  was  to  improve  the 
appetite  of  the  cows  and  cause  them  to  eat  a 
slightly  larger  ration  than  they  had  been  using 
previously.  We  are  thus  led  to  believe  that, 
so  long  as  the  acid  fed  is  not  in  a  proportion 
beyond  proper  condimental  relations,  it  is  a 
valuable  adjunct  to  food.  When  we  notice 
that  the  use  of  ensilage  as  sole  food  has  not 


Preserving  Green  Forage  51 

produced  a  satisfactory  condition  in  the  ani- 
mals thus  fed,  we  fully  believe  that  the  feeding 
of  the  acid  beyond  its  condimental  proportions 
is  not  advisable.  We  are  led  to  believe  that 
ensilage  must  be  considered  as  a  valuable  food 
when  judiciously  fed;  and  in  the  hands  of  a 
judicious  feeder  it  may  possess  a  value  superior 
to  that  of  the  raw  material,  inasmuch  as  it 
contains  the  same  amount  of  nutrition  in  addi- 
tion to  a  certain  condimental  effect  upon  the 
animal. 

THE   OPINIONS   OF   EMINENT   AGRI- 
CULTURISTS. 

The  following  certificate  from  gentlemen 
eminently  and  reputably  known  for  their  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  agriculture  and  the  applica- 
tion of  business  intelligence  in  their  operations 
will  be  interesting  in  connection  with  the  sub- 
ject of  ensilage.  It  reads  as  follows :  — 

"The  undersigned,  having  made  and  fed 
ensilage  for  several  years,  believing  that  we 
have  arrived  at  certain  and  uniform  success, 
offer  to  those  who  are  in  doubt,  this 

CERTIFICATE. 

"  This  certifies  that  we  are  making  ensilage 
without  heat  or  fermentation,  in  air-tight  silos, 


52  Colcord's  System  of 

cutting  the  corn  in  one-half  to  three-quarter 
inch  lengths,  weighting  100  pounds  to  the 
square  foot,  and  with  this  pressure  getting  one 
foot  or  more  of  juice  in  the  bottom  of  the  silo. 
We  remove  the  air  from  the  silo  by  using  Col- 
cord's  Silo  Governor,  which  causes  a  heavy 
vertical,  with  very  little  lateral,  pressure.  We 
obtain  as  uniform  results  cold,  moist,  soft,  and 
pulpy  ensilage,  of  the  natural  color  of  the  corn, 
without  offensive  odor,  imparting  no  odor  to 
the  silo,  barn,  hands,  or  clothing,  but  often  of  a 
bright,  sweet  smell,  and  sometimes  the  odor  of 
nice,  dry  corn  fodder.  We  feed  an  average  of 
60  pounds  daily  to  each  cow,  and  our  cattle 
eat  it  all  without  any  waste. 

"We  regard  Mr.  Colcord's  system  as  the' 
true,  if  not  the  only  true,  method  of  ensilaging 
green  forage  crops,  and  recommend  it  as  sure, 
uniform,  economical,  and  less  troublesome  than 
any  other.  By  using  this  system,  with  the 
governor,"  according  to  directions,  any  one  may 
be  sure  of  success  with  ensilage. 

"EDMUND  M.  WOOD,  Boston,  Mass. 
"T.  E.  RUGGLES,  Milton,  Mass. 
"CHARLES   L.   COPELAND,  Milton,  Mass. 
"C.  A.  DAVIS,  Natick,  Mass. 
"  BERNARD  MONAGHAN,  Dedham,  Mass." 


Preserving  Green  Forage  53 

[From  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman.] 

SWEET  FORAGE  IN  WINTER. 

COLCORD'S   GOVERNOR  IN  PRACTICAL  USE. —  PAR- 
TICULARS   FROM   MR.    COLCORD    HIMSELF. 

GENERAL  C.  H.  HOWARD: 

Sir, —  I  never  planted  corn  any  better,  culti- 
vated better,  or  manured  better  than  this  year; 
but  the  season  here  has  been  unusually  bad 
for  corn, —  cold  and  wet  to  a  degree  I  have 
never  seen  before.  The  corn  did  not  grow. 
It  was  two  feet  less  in  height,  the  leaves  were 
about  half  the  usual  size,  and  the  stalks  small : 
it  was  badly  frost-bitten  about  September  i. 

During  the  months  of  September  and  Octo- 
ber, the  rain  was  as  continuous  as  the  rainy 
season  of  California  or  some  parts  of  the 
South.  Very  little  corn  around  here  ripened, 
and  nearly  all  the  fodder  spoiled  in  curing. 

I  cut  mine  into  the  silo  September  18  to  24. 
It  rained  all  that  week  except  half  a  day.  We 
were  four  days  putting  it  in.  It  rained  so 
hard  2  days  that  we  could  not  work.  It  aver- 
aged 13  tons  to  the  acre  (last  year  19  tons). 
All  the  corn  was  in  the  milk.  It  was  put  in 
very  wet,  cut  to  half-inch.  I  put  in  3  gov- 


54  Colcord's  System  of 

ernors,  i  on  the  bottom,  i  in  the  centre,  and  i 
inverted  immediately  under  the  plank  cover- 
ing, because  I  used  the  same  splined  cover 
that  I  did  last  year.  When  the  silo  was  2/$ 
full,  there  were  6  inches  of  juice  all  over  the 
bottom:  no  carbonic  or  acetic  acid  this  year. 
Last  year  both  \vere  very  abundant.  The 
juice  is  sweet,  but  would  test  slightly  acid. 
The  temperature  in  the  centre  of  the  silo  is 
76°  to  78°  '(last  year  72°).  There  are  18 
inches  of  juice  in  the  bottom,  (last  year  30 
inches).  I  can  get  any  quantity  I  want  at  any 
time. 

The  top  is  kept  perfectly  level  with  ten 
jack-screws.  It  is  under  perfect  control,  and 
no  trouble  to  press  it.  I  can  discover  no  foul 
odors,  and  think  it  is  ripening  or  curing  very 
nicely. 

I  hope  to  be  able  about  December  i  to  send 
you  a  sample  of  the  juice  and  a  sample  of  the 
preserved  forage :  if  I  do,  I  shall  press  out  the 
juice  from  2  or  3  pounds  of  the  forage  near  to 
the  top  of  the  silo,  bottle  it,  and  pack  it  in  the 
identical  forage  I  press  it  from.  I  don't  under- 
stand why  I  should  have  no  acid  in  it  this  year 
and  so  much  last  year,  and  what  the  difference 
will  be  when  I  come  to  open  the  silo.  If  this 
turns  out  good,  it  will  settle  the  question  of 


Preserving  Green  Forage  55 

being  able  to  be  sure  of  the  corn  crop  every 
year.  It  seems  impossible  to  have  another 
year  as  bad  as  this ;  and  I  could  see  no  objec- 
tion to  the  acid  I  had  in  it  last  year,  and  all 
my  experiments  went  to  prove  it.  I  shall 
weigh  all  my  stock  when  I  begin  to  feed  it, 
and  every  thirty  days  after,  and  note  the  differ- 
ence in  milk  and  flesh.  The  difference  must 
be  in  the  quality  of  the  crop,  although  there  is 
6°  higher  temperature  this  year..  I  am  trying 
to  find  out  about  that  capillary  attraction. 
Last  year  the  juice  went  up  about  i  inch  a  day 
after  I  ceased  to  press  it:  this  year  I  am  not 
pressing  so  heavy,  and  it  doesn't  appear  to 
rise  so  fast.  My  last  month  of  feeding  last  year 
showed  quite  an  increase  in  feeding  value.* 


MY   EXPERIMENT    SILO. 

In  building  my  silo,  I  took  nearly  level 
ground,  laying  it  out  to  build  an  air-tight  pit 
12  x  32  x  20  feet,  excavated  5  feet,  putting  in 
the  foundation  of  cobble-stone  20  inches  wide, 
1 8  inches  below  the  bottom  of  the  silo,  with 
a  4-inch  land  drain  around  the  outside,  pour- 
ing over  the  foundation  thin,  mixed  cement. 
After  it  became  firm  and  level,  I  erected  a 

*  This  article  was  published  soon  after  the  silo  was  filled.     Later 
on,  carbonic  and  acetic  acids  put  in  an  appearance. 


56  Cole  or (fs  System  of 

staging  1 8  feet  high.  The  upright  timbers 
next  to  and  on  both  sides  of  the  wall  to  be 
built  were  6x6  spruce  timber,  5  feet  apart, 
securely  fastened  across  the  pit  by  2  x  8  plank, 
sawed  exactly  to  one  length,  securely  fastened 
near  the  top,  bottom,  and  centre  by  one  6-inch 
round  spike  in  the  centre  of  each  6-x-6-inch 
cross  connection,  to  give  a  perfectly  flat,  firm 
bearing.  The  planks  running  lengthwise  were 
fastened  to  the  uprights  in  the  same  manner, 
care  being  taken  to  have  the  uprights  per- 
fectly perpendicular,  without  variation  in 
distance  between  the  walls.  To  insure  per- 
fect accuracy,  the  inside  uprights  were  spiked 
together  and  raised  in  pairs.  Straight  timber 
was  selected,  and  as  far  as  possible  straight- 
grained;  the  diagonal  braces  of  i  x  6  fence 
boards  were  used. 

After  the  inside  staging  was  up,  the  outside 
timbers  were  raised  and  placed  opposite  the 
inside  ones,  leaving  space  for  the  1 8-inch  wall 
and  the  plank  on  each  side,  also  for  laths  ^ 
inch  thick  to  be  placed  between  the  plank  and 
the  uprights,  to  be  taken  out  each  time  the 
plank  is  raised.  The  inside  and  outside  up- 
right timbers,  also  the  outside  4x4  staging, 
were  securely  fastened  together  with  i  x  6 
fence  board,  6  feet  long.  Thus  the  inside 


Preserving  Green  Forage  57 

and  outside  stagings  were  securely  fastened 
together,  the  connections  being  sawed  away 
as  the  wall  was  built  up  between  the  stagings. 
The  wall  planks  were  18  inches  wide,  planed 
to  even  thickness.  These  were  placed  all 
around  the  pit  and  mitred  at  the  corners. 
Between  these  planks  the  wall  was  built  up 
daily  from  12  to  16  inches. 

When  the  inside  staging  was  removed,  there 
was  not  a  variation  of  J/6  inch  in  the  length  of 
the  walls  from  top  to  bottom  or  from  end  to 
end. 

I  was  thus  particular  in  building,  because  I 
was  trying  to  make  an  air-tight  pit,  in  which 
I  could  exhaust,  which  was  equal  to  packing 
384  square  feet  of  covering  tight  enough  to 
exhaust  6,528  cubic  feet,  which  every  one  said 
I  could  not  do. 

The  mortar  was  composed  of  one  part 
cement,  two  parts  coarse  sand,  two  parts 
small,  clean  cobble-stone,  two  parts  small 
broken  stone,  and  water  in  the  proportion 
of  about  30  gallons  to  each  barrel  of  cement. 
This  was  taken  to  the  pit  in  buckets,  poured 
in  and  packed  with  trowels,  to  keep  the 
stones  from  the  plank.  Iron  rods  i%  inches 
in  diameter,  with  strong  flanges  at  the  bottom, 
terminating  4  feet  above  the  top  of  the  wall, 


58  Colcord's  System  of 

with  long  screws  and  double  i^-inch  nuts, 
were  built  into  the  centre  of  the  side  walls 
from  the  foundation  up.  These  rods  should 
be  placed  about  8  feet  apart,  commencing 
4  feet  from  the  end  walls. 

Eight  by  eight  spruce  timber  was  used 
to  connect  opposite  rods  across  the  top  of 
the  pit;  i^-inch  holes  were  bored  through  the 
timbers,  to  allow  them  to  slide  freely  on  the 
rods;  cast-iron  washers  i%  x  6  inches  were 
used  under  the  nuts.  When  the  wall  was 
up  half-way,  all  around  level,  2x6  planks 
were  set  up  on  the  outside  of  the  wall  between 
the  6x6  upright  timbers  and  the  building 
plank,  for  the  purpose  of  setting  the  upper 
half  of  the  wall  in  6  inches  all  around  the  out- 
side, leaving  the  part  yet  to  be  built  1 2  inches 
thick.  In  the  6-inch  ledge  at  the  bottom,  re- 
served to  build  upon,  was  placed  a  strip  of  2 
x  2  all  around  to  fasten  the  woodwork  to. 

Before  we  commenced  laying  up  the  wall, 
a  drip  or  drain  pipe  \y2  inches  in  diameter 
was  placed  at  the  bottom,  from  the  exact 
centre  of  the  pit  to  one  of  the  corners,  to 
come  out  into  a  well  3  feet  deep.  This  out- 
side end  was  placed  8  inches  below  the  bottora 
of  the  pit,  with  a  X  turning  up  3  inches  inside 
the  face  of  the  wall.  Into  this  _L  was  screwed 


Preserving  Green  Forage  59 

an  upright  i  %-inch  pipe,  which  was  built  into 
the  wall,  coming  out  at  the  top  of  the  6-inch 
ledge  upon  the  barn  floor,  terminating  2  feet 
above  the  floor  with  a  plug  and  side  stop-cock, 
arranged  to  collect  the  gases  for  examination, 
to  sound  the  depth  of'  juice  and  draw  it  off 
at  the  bottom  over  the  well,  also  for  general 
purposes  of  examination.  The  end  of  the 
drip  pipe  at  the  centre  of  the  pit  terminated 
in  an  elbow,  with  3  inches  of  pipe  coming  up 
through  the  cemented  bottom  and  flush  with 
it.  These  pipes  are  a  part  of  the  governor, 
which  in  this  pit  is  a  frame  of  i-inch  iron  pipe 
26  feet  long  and  6  feet  wide,  perforated  with 
%-inch  holes  every  6  inches,  arranged  to 
sleeve  together  at  the  corners,  in  the  centre, 
and  at  the  sides  6^  feet  from  the  ends,  and 
put  together  in  such  a  way  that  the  whole  of 
it  can  be  put  in  in  fifteen  minutes,  and  every 
part  of  it  is  taken  out  separately,  as  it  is  found 
in  taking  the  forage  from  the  pit;  it  is  also 
placed  so  that  the  forage  cannot  stop  up  the 
54-inch  air  holes.  In  the  centre  of  this  frame 
is  a  X  that  turns  down  3  inches  into  the  drip 
pipe.  In  practical  use,  this  is  all  of  the  bot- 
tom governor. 

The  governor  being  in  place,  we  cut   the 
corn    in    J^-inch   lengths,  fill    the   pit  a  little 


60  Colcord's  System  of 

more  than  half  full,  level  and  tread  it  evenly; 
then  upon  a  skeleton  wooden  frame  we  put 
a  second  governor,  in  all  respects  like  the 
other,  except,  instead  of  turning  down  the 
outlet  into  the  drip  pipe,  we  turn  it  up,  with 
a  perpendicular  pipe  coming  up  through  the 
forage  from  the  centre  of  the  pit  and  through 
the  plank  covering,  and  terminating,  like  the 
other,  with  a  plug  or  cap.  When  the  pit  is 
full  and  trod  down  evenly,  cover  with  2-inch 
spruce  planks  fitted  to  slide  down  the  walls 
nicely  and  evenly;  press  it  firmly  enough  to 
get  about  2  feet  of  juice  in  the  bottom,  and 
in  practical  operation  this  is  all  that  is  re- 
quired. But  in  this  pit,  which  was  made  to 
try  any  experiment  and  test  any  principle  in 
the  direction  of  possibilities,  or  perfect  preser- 
vation, a  third  governor  inverted  was  put  in, 
and  the  three  governors  were  sleeved  together, 
having  a  continuous  outlet  from  top  to  bot- 
tom, closed  with  stop-cocks  and  plugs,  having 
432  outlets  for  gas  and  air  from  the  forage 
into  the  pipes,  distributed  evenly  through  the 
mass.  The  top  governor  was  laid  directly 
upon  the  corn,  the  pit  was  covered  writh  2-inch 
splined  planks,  accurately  fitted  so  as  to  slide 
down  the  walls  as  the  mass  settled.  This 
cover  was  covered  with  two  layers  of  thick 


Preserving  Green  Forage  61 

paper,  and  a  4^-inch  rubber  packing  all  around 
the  walls,  making  it  air-tight.  This  was  also 
covered  with  4  inches  of  damp  sand. 

Two  lines  of  6  x  8  timber  were  placed  the 
length  of  the  pit  upon  the  cover,  upon  which 
\vere  placed  2-inch  jack-screws  under  the  8x8 
timbers  through  which  the  iron  rods  passed. 
This  arrangement,  by  reason  of  the  elasticity 
of  the  corn  and  the  springing  of  the  timbers 
above  the  jack-screws,  gave  a  continuous  press- 
ure, which  was  found  to  be  ample  and  safe. 
In  this  way,  I  was  able  to  get  an  air-tight  ex- 
haust. All  the  air  and  gas  had  to  come  out 
through  the  governor,  giving  an  opportunity 
for  examination  and  taking  the  temperature 
daily  at  different  depths.  At  no  time  was  the 
temperature  above  72°  in  the  pit,  which  was 
about  the  outside  temperature  when  we  com- 
menced to  fill.  Carbonic  acid  appeared  in  the 
pit  the  morning  after  the  first  day  we  cut,  and 
the  next  day  acetic  acid  put  in  an  appearance. 
These,  with  air,  were  the  only  gases  or  vapors 
that  have  come  out  of  the  pit;  and  these  appear 
perfectly  pure,  without  any  odor, —  something  I 
have  never  seen  before  in  any  silo.  In  fact,  there 
has  never  been  any  heat,  fermentation,  or  foul 
odor  in  the  pit.  Juice  drawn  from  the  bottom 
is  odorless ;  and  when,  by  long  exposure  to  the 


62  Colcord's  System  of 

air,  it  does  change,  it  turns  to  bright,  odorless 
vinegar.  There  is  no  odor  of  ensilage  in  the 
pit  or  stable,  and  not  any  waste  in  the  pit 
or  at  the  feeding-troughs,  but  is  all  eaten  up 
clean.  I  am  now  feeding  an  average  of  seventy 
pounds  daily  to  each  animal.  Many  of  them 
would  eat  considerably  more.  I  think,  how- 
ever, that  I  shall  find  a  variety  for  cows  is 
better  than  any  one  kind  of  food. 

The  bottom  and  centre  governors  took  the 
air  out  so  fast  while  we  were  filling  that  be- 
fore it  was  full  we  had  2  or  3  inches  of  juice 
all  over  the  bottom  of  the  pit.  There  was 
very  little  lateral  pressure  until  after  we  began 
to  press.  The  i-foot  walls  were  found  to  be 
strong  enough,  the  strain  upon  the  iron  rods 
preventing  any  fear  of  their  pressing  out. 
One  of  my  aims  was  to  get  the  juice  as  near 
the  top  as  I  could,  to  make  the  mass  soft  and 
uniform  throughout.  I  have  succeeded  per- 
fectly in  doing  this,  in  getting  an  exhaust. 

The  mass  is  now  cut  down  vertically  13^ 
feet,  and  back  across  the  end  10  feet,  with  a 
hard,  smooth  face  which  does  not  change,  let 
the  air  in,  or  the  juice  down.  I  can  take  a 
handful  of  the  forage  and  squeeze  the  juice 
from  it,  from  any  part  of  the  face.  There  is  no 
air  in  it,  it  remains  sopping  wet  and  cold  from 


Preserving  Green  Forage  63 

the  top  plank  to  the  bottom.  To  test  the 
exhaust,  -I  connected  the  governors  both  at 
top  and  bottom  of  the  pit  with  a  steam  vac- 
uum  pump.  As  soon  as  the  air  was  removed 
and  juice  came  into  the  pump,  I  cut  off  the 
connection  with  the  bottom,  and  the  pump 
threw  a  stream  of  juice  from  the  top  10  feet 
high  into  the  air.  Therefore,  more  pumping 
or  pressure  was  useless,  the  juice  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  air,  and  capillary  attraction  is 
keeping  it  there  throughout  the  mass.  In 
practical  operation,  capillary  attraction  is  suffi- 
cient to  convey  and  keep  the  juice  at  the 
top.  This  has  the  effect  of  keeping  the 
forage  wet  and  cold,  and  seems  to  give  it  a 
ripening  process,  rendering  it  more  palatable 
and  assimilable,  as  evinced  by  the  continual 
improved  quality  as  we  cut  into  it.  The  cover 
should  be  removed  no  faster  than  we  cut  down 
vertically.  As  I  have  had  no  heat  or  fermen- 
tation in  the  pit,  the  forage  does  not  heat  up 
when  taken  out  and  exposed  to  the  air.  In 
very  cold  weather,  I  pour  over  the  forage  in 
the  feed-box  one  to  two  gallons  of  hot  water 
to  each  100  pounds;  but  it  will  not  start 'to 
increase  the  heat,  as  there  are  no  germs  of 
fermentation  in  the  forage,  apparently.  The 
forage  has  a  density  in  the  pit  of  50  pounds 
to  a  cubic  foot. 


64  Colcord's  System  of 

The  great  advantage  in  this  manner  of 
pressing  with  screws  is  that  we  get  the  amount 
wanted  wherever  and  whenever  we  want  it,  it 
can  be  put  on  and  taken  off  at  pleasure,  the 
elasticity  of  the  corn  with  the  spring  of  the 
timbers  above  the  jack-screws  gives  it  a  contin- 
uous pressure,  the  time,  trouble,  and  expense 
of  weighting  are  entirely  avoided.  Another 
advantage  is,  the  iron  rods  can  be  carried  up 
6  or  8  feet  above  the  top  of  the  wall,  arrang- 
ing the  studding  above  to  receive  the  planks 
and  virtually  building  the  silo  so  much  higher. 
When  the  pressure  is  put  on,  it  brings  the 
cover  down  between  the  cement  walls;  and 
these  planks,  also  the  covering  planks,  can  be 
packed  away  above  the  pit,  just  where  they 
will  be  wanted  for  future  use. 


BUILDING   SILOS. 

The  door  in  the  end  of  my  silo  is  4*4  x  6 
feet.  The  door-frame  is  made  of  3-x-i  2-inch 
plank.  All  around  the  outside  of  the  door- 
frame, I  spiked  a  strip  of  2-x-4-inch  plank. 
This  strip,  being  embraced  in  the  masonry, 
formed  a  lug,  or  shoulder,  to  hold  the  door- 
frame in  position,  and  prevent  its  being  dis- 
turbed. I  anticipated  some  trouble  in  making 


Preserving  Green  Forage  65 

the  doorway  tight ;  but,  with  a  2-inch  matched 
plank,  made  to  fill  the  opening  in  the  door- 
frame, and  by  fastening  with  4-inch  lag-screws 
a  2-x-io-inch  plank  on  to  the  3-x-i 2-inch  door- 
jambs,  I  succeeded  in  rendering  the  doorway 
absolutely  air-tight.  And  it  remained  so  until 
the  silo  was  opened. 

I  used  a  very  heavy  old  cart-wheel  iron  tire 
to  bind  the  end  of  my  silo  together,  over  the 
door,  by  laying  the  tire  upon  the  top  of  the 
door-frame,  turning  the  ends  up  6  inches  into 
the  side  walls,  and  passing  a  ^/g-inch  iron  bolt 
through  the  door-frame,  the  iron  tire,  the 
walls,  and  the  cap  of  the  silo,  turning  the  nut 
firmly  on  the  bolt. 

I  feel  that  I  have  fulfilled  my  promise  in 
making  these  experiments ;  and  by  them,  with 
the  experience  gained  in  five  years  past,  I  am 
able  to  prove  every  statement  I  have  made 
about  this  system,  and  now  have  the  results  to 
show.  I  think  I  may  congratulate  the  stock- 
men in  this  country  upon  the  certainty  that 
green  forage  can  be  perfectly  and  uniformly 
preserved  year  by  year,  at  a  cost  of  about  one- 
third  the  feeding  value  of  hay ;  that  it  costs  no 
more  to  handle  than  hay  in  time  or  money; 
that  it  is  a  surer  feeding  crop  to  raise  than  any 
other ;  that  the  insurance  risk  is  far  less  from 


66  Colcord's  System  of 

lightning,  fire,  flood,  or  drought,  than  upon 
any  other  stock  food;  that  cattle  drink  only 
about  one-half  as  much  as  when  fed  on  hay; 
that  by  this  system  we  can  feel , insured  against 
cold  or  hot,  wet  or  dry  seasons,  and  silos  can 
easily  be  protected  from  frost.  My  silo  is 
boarded  up  outside  with  i-x-6-inch  rough 
feather-edge  boards  to  the  top,  and  packed 
between  with  6  inches  of  sawdust  on  the  ex- 
posed side  and  end.  It  will  be  found  to  be 
the  rrfost  economical  way  to  build  good,  tight 
silos.  The  expense  of  building  them  depends 
somewhat  upon  the  soil  and  situation :  the 
expense  should  be  about  the  same  in  building 
for  stock  fed  with  preserved  forage  as  for  hay. 
There  is  no  economy  in  building  cheap  silos, 
and  poor  economy,  with  great  waste,  in  pack- 
ing corn  in  whole,  filling  slow,  and  having  heat 
and  fermentation  that  cannot  be  controlled. 

No  lime  should  be  used  in  the  mortar  for 
building  silos.  Any  one  intending  to  build  a 
silo,  or  having  one  that  is  not  satisfactory,  will 
do  well  to  call  and  see  this  one.  It  will  be  a 
great  satisfaction,  and  a  saving  of  time  and 
money,  as  the  important  experiments  have 
nearly  all  been  made,  and  are  open  to  any 
one  that  calls.  It  is  very  easy  to  see  how 
silos  can  be  altered  to  make  this  kind  of 
forage. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  67 

In  building  a  silo,  it  pays  to  build  well ;  and, 
to  prove  all  the  facts  about  it,  I  tried  to  build 
perfectly,  in  order  to  test  the  possibilities  of  a 
perfect  system,  and  have  inserted  in  this  book 
a  picture  of  the  staging,  inside  and  outside  the 
silo  wall,  when  it  was  5  feet  high,  taken  from 
a  photograph  (see  cut,  p.  68).  When  building 
my  silo,  the  weather  was  100°  in  the  shade, 
the  plank  between  which  the  wrall  was  made 
was  exposed  to  the  sun  on  one  side,  and  cold, 
wet,  grout  cement  mortar  on  the  other  side. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  plank  swelled, 
or  rolled,  between  the  upright  timbers  ^  of  I 
inch  on  each  side,  making  y2  inch  variation, 
in  some  places,  between  the  side  walls ;  and 
this  was  and  is  the  only  deviation  in  the  walls. 

The  following  cut,  taken  from  a  photograph, 
shows  my  silo  in  process  of  building :  — 


68 


Colcord's  System  of 


H 
O 


O 

u 


o 

o 

s 

g 

I-H 

o 


Preserving  Green  Forage  69 


DIRECTIONS   FOR   PUTTING   IN   AND  RE- 
MOVING   THE    SILO    GOVERNOR. 

The  governor  is  made  of  i-inch  pipe,  with 
holes  %  inch  in  diameter  and  6  inches  apart, 
along  one  side  of  the  pipe.  The  pipes  are 
arranged  in  frames  around  the  inside  of  the 
silo,  about  3  feet  from  the  walls,  with  1 54-inch 
pipe  across  the  centre  of  the  frame.  In  the 
centre  of  this  pipe  is  a  _L  to  turn  up,  in  which 
to  screw  the  perpendicular  pipe,  if  it  is  to  come 
up  in  the  centre  of  the  silo  through  the  forage. 
In  the  centre  of  the  bottom  governor,  the  T 
turns  down  to  enter  the  drip  pipe,  which  runs 
from  the  centre  of  the  silo,  declining  about  6 
inches,  to  any  convenient  place  outside  the 
wall,  under  the  cemented  bottom,  the  outside 
end  of  the  drip  pipe  terminating  with  a  stop- 
cock, to  draw  off  the  juice ;  also,  a  JL  in  which 
to  screw  the  perpendicular  pipe  which  comes 
up  outside  the  wall  to  any  convenient  height, 
usually  to  2  feet  above  the  barn  floor,  for  con- 
venience in  measuring  the  juice  and  to  have 
the  stop-cock  and  outlet  under  cover,  to  avoid 
frost. 


70  Cole orcl's  System  of 

These  bottom  governors  can  be  arranged  to 
have  the  outlets  on  a  level  with  the  bottom  of 
the  silo,  by  cementing  a  pipe  in  the  wall  large 
enough  to  sleeve  the  governor  into.  The  stop- 
cock, from  the  drip  pipe  in  my  silo,  comes  out 
over  a  little  well  about  three  feet  deep,  to  per- 
mit a  pail  to  be  held  to  catch  the  juice.  All 
the  governors,  except  those  lying  directly  upon 
the  bottom  of  the  silo,  have  the  perpendicular 
pipes  come  up  through  the  forage.  All  the 
horizontal  pipes  should  be  placed  upon  strips 
of  board  about  4  inches  wide.  All  the  gov- 
ernors should  be  carefully  put  in,  so  that  the 
^4-inch  holes  will  be  at  the  bottom,  which 
makes  a  passage  the  whole  length  of  the  frame 
for  air  and  gas  to  get  into  the  pipes.  In  put- 
ting in  the  centre  governor,  the  forage  should 
be  well  trodden  level,  or  it  will  get  out  of  place, 
and  the  pipes  bent  in  settling. 

Sometimes,  in  old  silos,  when  people  don't 
want  to  go  to  the  trouble  and  expense  of 
making  alterations,  I  put  in  both  of  the 
perpendicular  pipes  from  the  governors,  to 
come  up  through  the  forage  to  the  top,  in 
which  case,  if  there  is  much  juice  in  the  bot- 
tom, it  must  be  pumped  out  before  cutting 
down  the  forage  into  it,  because  air  coming 
in  contact  with  the  juice  is  apt  to  change 


Preserving  Green  Forage  71 

and   injure  it,   and  carry  the    injury   into    the 
forage. 

The  governors,  as  we  make  them  now,  are 
much  cheaper  than  formerly,  and  work  equally 
well.  All  the  connections  are  made  with 
right-hand  screws,  excepting  the  right-and-left- 
barred,  or  ribbed,  couplings  on  the  sections 
that  go  across  the  frame,  so  that,  in  putting 
the  governors  together,  lay  the  side  pipes  down 
as  they  go,  and  screw  them  together.  Take 
your  centre  i%  in  cross-section,  unscrew  the 
right  and  left  coupling,  and  screw  each  half 
into  the  opposite  sides.  Do  the  same  at  both 
ends.  Then  turn  these  two  halves  bottom- 
side  up,  and  see  that  all  the  %-inch  holes  are 
on  top.  Then  turn  them  over  again,  screw 
the  right  and  left  couplings  together,  then 
your  perpendicular  pipes.  The  frame  is  then 
ready  to  be  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  silo. 
See  that  your  centre  governor  is  placed  a  little 
more  than  half-way  up,  fastened  to  the  skele- 
ton platform  with  staples,  or  plumbers'  fasten- 
ings. When  you  again  find  it,  in  removing 
the  forage,  it  will  be  more  than  half-way  down. 
Remove  the  governor  as  you  come  to  it,  un- 
screwing the  right  and  left  couplings  first, 
then  each  part  in  the  manner  you  put  the 
frame  together,  sawing  or  breaking  away  the 


72  Colcord's  System  of 

skeleton  platform  as  you  come  to  it.  All  the 
connections  are  made,  and  disconnected,  by 
using  ordinary  gas-pipe  tongs.  They  are  very 
easily  handled,  as  all  the  screws  are  right 
hand,  except  the  right  and  left  couplings,  and 
do  not  require  to  be  screwed  very  tight. 

When  the  governor  is  in  place,  there  is  a 
row  of  ^-inch  holes  on  each  side  where  the 
pipe  comes  in  contact  with  the  bottom  of  the 
silo,  or  the  strips  of  boards,  so  that,  when  the 
fodder  is  placed  upon  them  in  the  silo,  it  falls 
down  on  each  side  of  the  inch  pipe,  leaving  a 
pathway  for  the  air  and  gases  to  pass  along  to 
the  holes  in  every  part  of  the  frame. 

Supposing  that  your  silo  inside  is  12  x  32 
x  20  feet,  your  two  governor  frames  would  be 
6  x  26  feet  each.  There  will  be  a  distance  of 
3  feet  all  around  from  the  wall  to  the  gover- 
nors ;  also,  3  feet  from  the  centre  of  the  silo  to 
the  governors.  You  place  your  upper  governor 
1 1  feet  from  the  bottom,  and  fill  the  silo  20 
feet  high.  Covering  and  pressing  may  reduce 
the  mass  to  12  feet.  You  then  have  3  feet 
from  the  top  to  half-way  to  the  upper  governor, 
then  3  feet  to  the  upper  governor,  then  3  feet 
to  half-way  between  the  two  governors,  then  3 
feet  to  the  bottom  governor,  bringing  every  part 
of  the  forage  to  within  about  3  feet  from  these 


Preserving  Green  Forage  73 

rows  of  %-inch  holes  in  the  pipes  and  the 
openings  between  the  top  plank,  giving  ample 
opportunity  for  the  escape  of  gas.  In  this  way, 
while  filling  a  silo  of  this  size,  in  four  days,  I 
had  6  inches  of  juice  in  the  bottom  before  I 
could  get  the  cover  on  or  give  it  any  pressure; 
while  other  silos,  having  no  governors,  had  no 
juice  upon  their  bottoms,  even  when  weighted 
with  from  100  to  200  pounds  to  each  square 
foot  of  top  surface.  By  this  system,  it  does 
not  require  one-half  the  weight  or  pressure  to 
secure  the  ordinary  results  gained  in  the  man- 
agement of  silos ;  and  I  am  led  to  believe  there 
is  no  other  way  known  as  yet  to  prevent  heat 
or  fermentation,  or  one  likely  to  be  devised  as 
perfect  and  economical  as  this. 


74 


Colcord's  System  of 


o 
u 

PH 

\ 

i-l 

PQ 


Preserving  Green  Forage  75 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  TABLE-TOP 
CORN-CART. 

The  cut  represents  a  level,  portable  table, 
designed  to  take  the  corn  from  the  field  to  the 
cutter,  to  be  cut  without  laying  it  upon  the 
ground,  avoiding  handling,  soiling,  getting  it 
gritty  or  any  mixing  it  with  stones,  gravel, 
wood,  or  dirt  of  any  kind,  to  dull  or  injure  the 
knives,  or  to  get  to  the  animals  in  their  food. 
The  top  is  6*/2  x  9^  feet.  The  wheels  are  '40 
inches  in  diameter,  with  a  4-inch  tread.  •  It  is 
arranged  to  use  one  horse  or  two.  The  tall 
corn  is  spread  upon  it  when  cut,  the  butts  all 
on  one  side,  and  can  be  fed  into  the  cutter 
directly  from  the  cart,  which  is  the  same  height 
as  the  cutter.  The  rollers  of  the  cutter  feed 
the  corn  to  the  knives  by  merely  pushing  the 
butt-ends  to  the  rollers.  In  practical  use,  it 
works  admirably,  and  is  a  very  useful  cart  upon 
a  farm  for  gathering  fruit  and  other  crops  in 
the  field. 


76  Colcord's  System  of 


FAULTY    SILOS   AND    FAULTY    MANIPU- 
LATIONS. 

It  is  necessary  to  have  tight  silos,  with 
smooth,  perpendicular  walls,  the  opposite  walls 
to  be  equally  distant  from  each  other,  in  all 
places,  in  order  to  preserve  green  forage  per- 
fectly. It  is  also  necessary  that  the  walls 
should  be  strong  enough  to  stand  heavy  press- 
ure ;  also  that  they  should  remain  tight  while 
the  forage  remains  enclosed  in  them,  and  not 
absorb  the  juice  from  the  forage.  These  are 
the  ends  to  be  sought  in  building  a  good  silo ; 
and  it  is  of  comparatively  small  importance 
how  they  are  made  or  of  what  material,  if 
these  ends  are  attained.  I  seldom  visit  a  silo 
and  find  these  conditions  fulfilled. 

If  any  one  will  examine  his  silo  carefully, 
with  a  good,  long,  straight  edge,  and  measure 
the  distance  carefully  between  the  opposite 
walls  with  a  rod  just  long  enough  to  touch 
each  end  at  the  narrowest  place,  and  have 
every  covering  plank  cut  i  inch  shorter  than 
his  rod,  he  will  realize,  the  importance  of  the 
conditions  above  stated,  and  give  attention 
to  them,  because  the  cover  cannot  be  pressed 
down  evenly  if  it  binds  anywhere  upon  the 


Preserving  Green  Forage  77 

walls ;  and,  wherever  it  binds,  the  air  will  get 
under  the  plank  and  spoil  the  forage.  An- 
other reason  is  that,  if  the  walls  are  uneven, 
the  forage  as  it  descends  under  pressure  will 
be  crowded  from  the  wall  wherever  a  bulge 
exists,  and,  when  it  passes  the  bulge,  it  will  let 
in  the  air.  The  same  holds  true  in  pressing 
the  cover  down  evenly,  which  is  one  reason 
why  pressing  by  screws  upon  timbers  placed 
across  the  plank  covering  is  so  much  better 
than  weighting.  If  these  things  are  carefully 
attended  to,  there  will  be  no  waste  whatever 
on  top  or  around  the  walls,  unless  the  cover  is 
allowed  to  come  up  when  removing  the  plank 
for  cutting  down  the  forage.  The  pressure 
should  not  be  removed  from  any  plank  except- 
ing those  that  are  removed  for  the  purpose  of 
cutting  down.  This  removal  is  the  cause  of  so 
much  waste  in  so  many  silos.  The  governors 
will  remove  the  air  from  the  bulk  of  the  forage, 
and  prevent  heat  or  fermentation,  or  any  foul 
odor  or  damage;  but  air  getting  in  from  the 
outside  will  cause  the  forage  to  mould  and 
produce  black  rot.  The  air  does  not  get  into 
the  forage  through  the  face  of  the  perpendicu- 
lar cut,  if  under  proper  pressure,  and  if  cut 
down  with  a  sharp  hay-knife.  The  whole  cover 
should  not  be  removed  from  all  the  top  at  one 


78  Colcord's  System  of 

time,  as  the  action  of  the  air  gives  it  double 
the  acidity  to  be  found  in  the  forage  2  feet 
below  the  top  layer  that  has  been  forked  over. 
These  facts  I  know  from  personal  experience, 
observation,  and  chemical  tests.  Whenever  I 
have  complaints  about  silos  in  which  the  gov- 
ernors are  used,  I  try  to  ascertain  the  cause  of 
the  trouble.  I  have  never  found  it  to  be  in  the 
governor,  and  have  always  been  able  to  find  the 
cause.  In  one  instance,  I  found  a  large  ampunt 
of  liquid  in  the  bottom ;  also,  that  the  water- 
line  in  the  earth  all  around  the  silo  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  inside.  The  silo  had  no 
drains  around  or  from  it.  In  another  instance, 
I  found  the  governor  in  a  cheap  wooden  silo. 
In  the  centre  of  the  silo  the  forage  was  perfect, 
but  some  quite  large  holes  in  the  boards  of 
which  the  silo  walls  were  made  had  given  ac- 
cess to  air,  which  caused  the  forage  to  go  to 
black  rot,  and  left  large  vacant  places  in  the 
forage,  large  enough  for  a  man  to  lie  down  in. 
It  was  not  weighted  heavily  enough.  Still,  it 
had  no  true  fermentation  in  it. 

Most  of  the  troubles,  I  find,  and  they  are 
quite  common,  are  in  light  weighting,  uneven 
walls,  and  covers  that  would  not  go  down  inside 
the  walls,  the  planks  being  too  long  to  pass  the 
numerous  large  bulges.  To  one  man  I  sent 


Preserving  Green  Forage  79 

two  governors  to  go  into  his  two  silos.  He  put 
both  into  one  silo,  none  into  the  other.  The 
defects  in  the  walls  caused  in  some  places  3 
inches  of  waste  around  the  silo  containing  the 
governors.  The  other  silo  had  about  i  foot 
of  waste  around  the  walls.  His  silo  was  too 
far  away  for  me  to  visit,  and  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  had  true  fermentation  in  either  of 
them ;  but  he  was  satisfied  with  the  governors, 
and  contemplates  building  more  silos  and  or- 
dering more  governors. 

There  is  another  great  trouble  I  have  found, 
which  is  mixing  my  system,  without  heat  or 
fermentation,  with  the  opposite  one  of  slow 
filling  and  light  weighting,  with  heat.  These 
two  systems  are  incompatible,  and  should  never 
be  mixed  or  confounded,  no  matter  who  sug- 
gests or  advises  it.  It  has  spoiled  some  of  my 
best  work,  even  after  perfect  forage  had  been 
made  in  all  parts  of  the  silo.  It  injures  the 
forage  to  remove  the  pressure  faster  than  the 
forage  is  removed. 

I  do  not  object  to  weighting  if  it  can  be 
done  so  as  to  press  down  the  cover  evenly, 
as  could  be  done  by  placing  planks  across  the 
cover  and  weighting  upon  them ;  but  it  would 
then  be  very  difficult  to  remove  the  weight 


8o  Colcord's  System  of 

and  plank  from  that  part  which  is  wanted  to 
cut  down  without  disturbing  the  other  plank 
and  getting  air  into  the  forage. 


REMEDY   FOR   FAULTY   SILOS. 

Where  silo  walls  are  made  of  heavy  stone 
masonry,  they  can  be  faced  smooth  by  floating 
a  coat  of  coarse  sand  and  pure  cement,  fre- 
quently using  a  long,  straight  edge  in  every 
direction,  until  the  depressions  in  the  surfaces 
are  all  filled ;  or,  in  case  the  wall  is  very  un- 
even, perpendicular  timber  could  be  firmly 
placed  in  front  of  the  face,  and  a  straight,  wide 
plank  placed  between  the  timber  and  the  wall, 
arranged  to  slide  up  evenly,  and  cement  mortar 
(no  lime)  filled  in  between,  daily,  to  the  top. 

If  such  walls  are  strong  and  well  made,  and 
T  rails  of  railroad  iron,  i  foot  longer  than  the 
silo  is  wide,  can  be  obtained,  openings  can  be 
cut  out  of  the  bottom  of  the  silo  just  large  enough 
to  admit  the  rail  about  3  inches  below  the  bot- 
tom of  the  silo,  and  under  the  walls  about  i  foot 
on  one  side,  and  6  or  8  inches  on  the  other 
side,  to  allow  the  rail  to  drop  in  and  be  placed 
firmly,  6  inches  under  each  wall.  A  piece  of 
iron  rod,  i  inch  in  diameter,  is  bent  so  as  to 
form,  midway  between  its  ends,  an  eye  large 


Preserving  Green  Forage  81 

enough  to  receive  a  hook  on  the  end  of  a  long 
iron  rod,  i  %  inch  in  diameter.  The  ends  of 
said  rod  are  bent  so  as  to  form  a  stirrup,  or 
loop,  large  enough  to  slip  over  the  railroad  iron. 

The  said  long  iron  rod,  having  a  hook  on  its 
lower  end,  has  a  long  screw  cut  on  its  upper 
end,  to  receive  a  double  nut  and  6-inch  washer. 
The  long  rods  are  made  to  reach  from  the 
bottom  up  to  from  4  to  5  feet  above  the  top  of 
the  silo,  and  the  upper  ends  of  said  long  rods 
pass  through  8x8  timbers,  upon  which  the 
double  nuts  and  washers  bear  for  the  purpose 
of  producing  the  desired  pressure  on  the  forage. 
These  long  rods  are  placed  along  the  side  walls, 
directly  opposite  to  each  other,  commencing 
not  more  than  4  feet  from  the  ends  of  the  silo, 
and  not  more  than  8  feet  apart.  Of  course, 
these  long  rods  are  better  built  into  the  centre 
of  the  walls,  as  they  serve  to  help  hold  up  the 
walls  when  under  pressure.  The  long  rods 
should  be  placed  as  close  as  possible  to  the 
side  walls  of  the  silo.  I  have  put  these  long 
rods  in,  both  ways,  in  the  centre  and  outside 
the  walls.  I  have  ordered  them  of  the  Boston 
Bolt  Company,  describing  them  as  bolts.  They 
came  just  what  I  wanted,  at  very  satisfactory 
prices. 

The  irons  across  the  bottom  should  have  a 


82  Colcord's  System  of 

good  bearing  under  the  walls.  Otherwise,  if 
the  bearing  is  just  under  the  edge,  the  pressure, 
together  with  the  lateral  pressure  of  the  forage, 
may  cause  the  wall  to  topple  over. 


[From  the  Dairy  World,  October,  1886.] 

ENSILAGE  AND  ITS  IMPORTANCE. 

A    NEW    DEPARTURE     IN     PRESERVING    GREEN    FOD- 
DER.  THE   TESTIMONY    OF   EXPERTS. 

AIR    PERFECTLY    EXCLUDED. THE 

FORAGE    COMES    OUT    SWEET. 

The  nature  of  ensilage  is  so  well  attested 
and  understood  in  Europe  and  America  that 
no  plea  is  longer  necessary  in  its  defence.  The 
only  question  now  to  be  considered  is  as  to 
the  best  and  cheapest  means  of  preparing  the 
fodder.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  over  the 
means  heretofore  used  to  prevent  fermentation. 
The  intelligence  of  inventors  has  been  directed 
constantly  to  the  easiest  and  most  perfect 
means  of  keeping  fermentation  within  bounds, 
or  of  preventing  its  action  unduly.  The 
measure  of  success  with  silos  is  in  the  more 
or  less  perfect  exclusion  of  the  air.  If  this  is 
perfectly  accomplished  at  the  time  of  filling 


Preserving  Green  Forage  83 

the  silo,  there  will  be  neither  heat,  fermenta- 
tion, decomposition,  nor  foul  odor. 

The  theory  of  filling  the  silo  slowly  and 
allowing  the  temperature  to  rise  from  122°  to 
1 80°,  to  kill  the  bacteria,  Mr.  Colcord  says,  is 
a  fallacy.  The  fermentation  cannot  be  con- 
trolled. The  ensilage  is  always  sour  first,  and 
becomes  sweet  (that  is,  not  so  acid)  by  progres- 
sive fermentation,  with  foul  odor,  and  always 
at  the  expense  of  the  quantity  as  well  as  the 
quality  of  the  forage.  By  the  system  here 
described,  these  changes  do  not  occur.  The 
forage  is  kept  in  its  natural  condition,  as 
follows :  — 

"  Sweet  ensilage,  as  commonly  understood, 
does  not  represent  preserved  green  forage 
produced  by  this  system.  The  term  'sweet,' 
as  originally  used,  was  not  used  in  a  sense 
as  opposite  to  sour,  but  as  opposed  to  putrid 
(as  sweet  meat). 

"  The  average  quantity  of  ensilage,  as  here- 
tofore made,  that  can  be  fed  daily,  is  about  forty 
pounds.  The  cattle  do  not  care  for  more ;  but 
forage  made  by  this  system  and  device  can  be 
fed  sixty  pounds  or  more  daily,  and  all  of  it 
eaten  without  any  waste,  giving  the  best  re- 
sults, even  better  than  fresh-cut  fodder. 

"  The  most  interesting  feature  in  this  system 


84  Colcord's  System  of 

is  its  economy.  From  corn  can  be  raised  the 
heaviest  and  best  crop  of  forage  at  the  lowest 
cost.  The  big  butts  contain  the  most  sugar 
and  starch.  By  this  system,  these  large  stocks 
are  preserved,  and  come  out  in  a  soft  and 
pulpy  state,  and  are  all  eaten.  By  those  who 
have  tested  it  by  keeping  accurate  account,  the 
average  cost  of  preserved  green  forage  is  $2 
per  ton.  In  feeding  value,  three  tons  of  it  are 
equal  to  one  ton  of  the  best  hay,  making  pre- 
served green  forage  at  $6  equal  to  hay  that  can 
be  readily  sold  for  $18.  Land  that  will  pro- 
duce three  tons  of  hay  will  produce  eighteen 
tons  of  green  forage  and  a  crop  of  green  rye 
annually,  which  will  give  three  times  the  results 
in  dairy  products  and  manure,  and  that  con- 
tinuously, upon  the  same  land." 

It  is  found  to  have  been  demonstrated  that 
the  silo  governor,  invented  by  Mr,  S.  M.  Col- 
cord,  of  Dover,  Mass.,  holds  the  ensilage  with- 
out heat  or  fermentation,  controlling  the  opera- 
tion and  changes  going  on  in  the  silo ;  that  it 
removes  the  air,  and  holds  the  contents  per- 
fectly, precisely  as  any  food  is  held  in  air-tight 
packages ;  and  that  it  can  be  applied  and  used 
in  old  as  well  as  new  silos. 

When  we  speak  of  fermentation  and  heat, 
the  idea  is  not  intended  to  be  conveyed  that  a 


Preserving  Green  Forage  85 

silo  can  be  filled  with  green  vegetable  matter 
without  eliminating  heat.  Any  succulent  vege- 
table matter  piled  together  in  the  presence  of 
air  commences  to  heat.  If  allowed  to  go  on, 
destructive  fermentation  sets  in,  and  at  length 
the  whole  mass  becomes  putrid  and  rotten. 


ELIMINATING  THE  AIR. 

The  various  means  heretofore  used  have  only 
measurably  arrested  this  fermentation,  and  the 
measure  of  success  has  been  in  just  proportion 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  air.  Not  until  the  in- 
vention of  Mr.  Colcord,  a  retired  druggist  of 
Dover,  Mass.,  have  we  had  means  of  governing 
this  fermentation  at  will,  or  in  time  to  prevent 
more  or  less  destructive  fermentation.  The 
means  used  by  him  was  the  result  of  scientific 
study,  through  his  knowledge  of  chemistry  and 
chemical  action. 


[From  the  Indiana  Farmer,  May  21,  1887.] 

PRESERVING  GREEN  FOOD. 

SOMETHING    NEW    AND    IMPORTANT    IN  LIVE  STOCK 
ECONOMY. 

Mr.  S.  M.  Colcord,  of  Dover,  Mass.,  one  of 
the  best   chemists   in   the  United  States,  has 


86  Colcord's  System  of 

done  the  live  stock  industry  a  great  good  in 
solving  the  question  of  preserving  green  food. 
During  the  period  of  strongest  opposition  to 
the  ensilage  methods,  it  will  be  remembered 
that  the  Indiana  Farmer  maintained  that  the 
success  of  it  was  "only  a  question  of  skill  in 
construction  of  silos/'  and  that  it  was  "non- 
sense to  say  that  we  could  preserve  green  fruit 
by  the  gallon  or  more,  and  could  not  also  ex- 
clude the  air  from  the  silo,"  and,  further,  that 
"  genius  and  science  would  satisfactorily  solve 
this  matter."  And  so,  while  the  Farmer  does 
not  lay  special  claim  to  prevision,  reasoning 
from  known  data,  its  prediction  seems  to  be 
fulfilled  in  the  invention  of  Mr.  Colcord.  At 
our  request,  he  has  furnished  us  with  cuts  and 
some  data  to  explain  his  invention.  Like  the 
splendid  chemist  and  scientist  he  is,  he  seems 
to  have  gone  about  this  work  with  the  strong 
common  sense  that,  to  preserve  green  food, 
the  element  usually  barring  that  end  was  to 
be  eliminated,  or  overcome.  The  invention 
plainly  goes  directly  to  the  point  of  excluding 
the  air,  which  causes  over-fermentation  and 
undue  action  upon  the  food.  Mr.  Colcord  says 
that  the  high  temperature  theory  is  a  fallacy. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  87 


[From  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  1888.] 

THE     COLCORD     ENSILAGE     EXPERI- 
MENTS. 

We  received  on  March  10,  from  Mr.  S.  M. 
Colcord,  three  days  from  Dover,  Mass.,  a  mail 
package  of  Indian  corn  ensilage,  as  perfect  as 
when  in  the  fresh  state.  There  was  no  evi- 
dence of  heat  or  fermentation,  no  acidity  or 
considerable  change  from  the  green  state,  the 
leaves,  stalks,-  and  the  grains  of  corn  being 
quite  normal ;  the  odor  pleasant,  like  fresh 
barley  must,  when  freshly  taken  from  the 
boilers.  Last  season,  we  noticed  at  length 
and  illustrated  Mr.  Colcord's  system  of  preserv- 
ing green  fodder  in  the  silo,  by  means  of  an 
apparatus  (governor)  that  perfectly  excludes 
the  air.  We  believe  now,  as  we  then  stated, 
that  it  was  a  scientifically  perfect  means  of 
preserving  any  green  forage  for  winter  feeding, 
in  a  natural  state,  including  its  juices  and 
other  normal  qualities.  The  journey  of  three 
days,  simply  wrapped  in  paper,  had  not  essen- 
tially altered  its  qualities.  In  fact,  city  horses 
ate  it  and  whinnied  for  more.  The  preserving 
of  ensilage  without  heat  or  fermentation  is  a 
long  step  in  advance ;  and  we  hope  to  see  this 


88  Colcord's  System  of 

process,  as  now  perfected,  largely  adopted  in 
the  West,  especially  by  dairymen  who  wish  to 
make  the  best  possible  winter  milk  and  its  prod- 
ucts. To  the  end  that  our  readers  may  un- 
derstand in  all  its  details,  we  give  space  this 
week  to  a  communication  from  Mr.  Colcord, 
as  being  important  to  every  person  who  feeds 
or  proposes  to  feed  ensilage,  over  the  wide 
area  in  which  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman 
is  circulated. 


The  following  is  Mr.  Colcord's  communication:  — 

POSSIBILITIES   OF   PRESERVING   GREEN 
FORAGE. 

"  Much  of  my  time  the  past  year  has  been 
devoted  to  building  a  perfect  silo,  in  which  I 
could  try  any  required  experiment,  to  find  out 
a  possible  way  of  preserving  green  forage  by 
cold  pressure,  that  would  fairly  or  nearly  rep- 
resent canned  goods.  Knowing  your  wish  for 
the  truth  in  this  direction,  I  send  you  the 
results  of  my  labors  and  the  means  I  used  to 
prove  the  facts. 

"  My  experiments  cover  all  the  ground  from 
planting  to  feeding,  from  construction  of  silo 
to  the  machinery  and  implements  for  handling 


Preserving  Green  Forage  89 

the  corn,  as  well  as  the  preserved  forage,  also 
the  connection,  arrangement,  and  convenience 
of  the  barn  and  silo. 

"My  system  differs  from  anything  advanced 
by  others,  is  opposed  to  the  general  mode  of 
producing  ensilage,  and  should  not  be  mixed 
up  or  confounded  with  other  methods  or  ma- 
nipulations, as  the  results  are  unlike.  The 
experiments  were  intended  to  show  the  possi- 
bilities in  preserving  green  forage,  to  find  out 
what  can  be  done  in  that  direction,  and  the 
way  to  do  it,  as  a  basis  for  practical  working 
in  farm  operations. 

"The  results  show  that  the  principal  things 
to  be  done  for  success  are  to  have  a  tight  silo,. 
or  pit,  drained  at  the  bottom  outside ;  to  have 
the  walls  perpendicular,  smooth  and  level-faced,, 
with  a  drip  pipe  from  the  centre  at  the  bottom 
to  the  outside,  terminating  with  a  stop-cock. 
A  governor  should  be  placed  at  the  bottom  of 
the  pit,  connecting  with  the  drip  pipe.  When 
the  pit  is  half  to  two-thirds  filled,  a  second 
governor  should  be  put  in.  When  the  pit  is 
full,  the  corn  should  be  trodden  down  level 
and  covered  with  2-inch  plank,  placed  directly 
upon  the  corn.  It  should  then  be  weighted  or 
pressed,  to  give  2  or  more  feet  of  juice  from 


90  Colcord's  System  of 

the  corn  at  the  bottom.  A  proper  observance 
of  the  conditions  will  produce  uniform  results 
with  entire  success." 


WHAT  MY  NEIGHBORS  SAY. 

Mr.  S.   M.  COLCORD: 

Dear  Sir, —  I  wish  to  add  my  testimony  and 
faith  in  your  system  of  preserving  green  forage. 
I  became  very  much  interested  in  your  experi- 
ments while  putting  up  the  staging  for  build- 
ing your  silo,  and  witnessing  your  success  in 
getting  a  perfect  pit,  and  afterwards  noticing 
your  care  and  attention  to  every  detail  while 
I  was  running  the  engine  and  cutter  for  cut- 
ting and  elevating  the  fodder  into  the  pit ;  and 
all  the  while  I  was  building,  or  rather  extend- 
ing, the  barn  over  the  silo.  To  me,  your  plans 
were  a  marvelous  conception,  and  your  success 
a  wonderful  achievement.  I  have  seen  nothing 
in  ensilage  to  compare  with  green  forage  pre- 
served with  your  device.  I  was  rather  incred- 
ulous until  I  saw  your  results.  But  now  that 
I  can  see  such  a  mass  of  vegetable  matter  pre- 
served without  heat  or  fermentation  (very  nearly 
like  the  vegetables  put  in  tin  cans,  by  heat 
without  fermentation),  all  the  air  being  taken 


Preserving  Green  Forage  91 

out  and  its  place  occupied  by  juice  pressed  from 
the  corn,  and  this  cut  down  vertically  from  top 
to  bottom  as  it  is  being  fed  out,  leaving  a  hard 
face  continuously,  from  which  juice  can  be 
squeezed  out  of  a  handful  of  it  taken  from 
any  part  of  the  pit ;  and,  added  to  this,  the 
fact  of  there  being  no  heat  or  fermentation  in 
it,  or  any  odor  of  ensilage  from  it,  or  any 
waste  on  the  top  or  around  the  sides,  or  at 
the  feeding-troughs,  even  when  the  cows  are 
eating  an  average  of  70  pounds  daily  weighed 
out  to  them,  and  yielding  double  the  results  of 
any  other  feed  rations  in  milk  and  manure, — 
all  this  to  me  is  marvelous,  and  I  congratulate 
you  upon  your  success. 

Very  truly  yours, 

F.  W.  SAWIN. 


DOVER,  February,  1888. 

WE,  the  undersigned,  living  near  Mr.  Col- 
cord's  farm,  having  assisted  him  in  harvesting 
the  corn  and  placing  it  in  the  pit,  and  having 
seen  how  the  silo  was  built,  how  the  corn  was 
covered  and  compressed,  and  now  being  able 
to  see  the  results  as  to  quality  and  quantity  of 
forage,  the  milk  and  the  manure,  with  the  very 


92  Colcord's  System  of 

small  quantity  of  hay  and  grain  he  is  feeding, 
and  the  fine  appearance  of  the  stock  fed  on 
this  preserved  corn,  which  is  daily  increasing 
in  weight,  also  in  the  yield  of  milk, —  from 
our  knowledge  we  are  happy  to  indorse  his 
statements :  that  the  contents  of  the  silo  are 
saturated  with  juice  from  the  corn  from  top 
to  bottom ;  that  there  is  no  ensilage  odor  in 
the  barn  or  silo ;  that  there  is  no  waste  of 
fodder  in  the  silo  or  in  the  cribs.  We  believe 
that  his  system  of  preserving  green  forage  is 
the  true  one,  and  are  happy  to  state  that 
his  experiments  are  a  success,  and  that  any 
one  by  following  his  methods  may  be  sure  of 
success  every  time,  with  less  than  half  the  ex- 
pense of  feeding  in  the  ordinary  way. 

WARREN  BLACKMAN. 
IRVING  COLBURN. 
GRANVILLE  COLBURN. 
JAMES  DUFFIELD. 
JAMES   B.  COUGHLAN. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  93 


DOVER,  Feb.  15,  1888. 
Mr.  SAMUEL  M.  COLCORD  : 

Sir, — Thinking  you  might  like  to  have  it,  it 
is  with  pleasure  that  I  give  you  this  testimony. 
Having  been  employed  by  S.  M.  Colcord  for 
six  months  in  1887  upon  his  silo  and  barn, 
from  the  construction  of  the  walls  to  the  filling 
and  finishing  of  the  silo  and  barn,  having  had 
full  knowledge  of  his  theories  and  experiments, 
seen  them  tested  and  proved,  and  having  ex- 
amined his  tests  and  methods,  and  read  what 
he  has  written  and  what  has  been  published 
in  the  papers  about  his  system  and  methods,  I 
feel  impelled  to  add  my  testimony  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  statements  made.  They  are  not 
exaggerated  statements.  I  know  them  to  be 
true;  for  I  have  daily  taken  the  temperature  in 
the  silo  myself,  and  measured  the  amount  of 
juice  at  the  bottom.  I  know  that  there  has 
been  no  heating  up  of  the  corn  in  the  pit,  and 
no  odor  of  ensilage  about  the  barn  or  silo.  I 
have  seen  it  taken  daily  from  the  pit  and 
weighed  out  to  the  cows.  It  is  all  of  uniform 
quality,  with  no  waste  whatever,  and  I  have 
noticed  that  it  was  all  eaten  up  clean. 


94  Colcord's  System  of 

From  what  I  have  seen,  I  should  say  that 
the  published  statements  are  rather  short  of 
the  whole  truth  instead  of  being  overstated. 

H.  B.  RYERSON. 


MILTON,  MASS.,  May  4,  1889. 
Mr.  S.  M.  COLCORD  : 

Dear  Sir, —  I  have  been  using  your  gov- 
ernors, as  you  are  aware,  for  some  years  past; 
and  I  thought  you  might  like  to  know  what 
my  experience  has  been  with  them  the  past 
two  or  three  years.  I  must  say  to  you  that  I 
like  them  just  as  well  as  I  did  at  first,  and  feel 
sure  of  good  results  every  time  I  fill  the  silo. 
I  am  not  a  chemist,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
expected  to  prove  every  point  chemically,  as 
you  do;  but  I  am  not  aware  of  having  ever 
had  what  you  call  heat  and  fermentation  in  my 
silo  since  I  commenced  to  use  the  governors, 
and  feel  so  well  satisfied  with  my  results, 
especially  when  I  compare  them  with  those  of 
others  that  do  not  use  the  governors,  that  I  do 
not  take  any  interest  in  the  science  or  art  of 
the  Fry  or  any  other  system,  because  I  feel 
insured  against  loss,  and  faith  in  the  governor 
keeps  me  from  all  anxiety. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  95 

I  feel  to  congratulate  you  upon  your  success  ' 
in  all  your  experiments,  and  the  perfection  of 
your  system,  and  feel  sure  that  others  will  feel 
as  I  do  about  it,  whenever  they  adopt  your 
methods,  and  come  to  realize  the  economy  and 
great  value  of  your  discovery.  The  cost  of 
the  governor  is  a  mere  trifle  compared  with 
its  use ;  and  I  hope  you  will  live  to  reap  the 
reward  you  so  richly  deserve  for  all  the  time 
and  money  you  have  spent  the  last  ten  years 
for  the  benefit  of  the  farmers. 

Wishing  you  every  success,  I  am 
Yours  sincerely, 

T.  E.  RUGGLES. 

Having  used  Mr.  Colcord's  silo  governor  for 
some  time  past  with  great  satisfaction,  I  cheer- 
fully indorse  and  coincide  with  all  Mr.  Ruggles 
has  written  in  the  above  letter. 

C.  L.  COPELAND. 


DOVER,  May  8,  1889. 
Mr.  S.  M.  COLCORD  : 

Being  your  nearest  neighbor,  and  quite  well 
acquainted  with  your  silo  and  preserved  green 
fodder  operations,  I  must  congratulate  you 
upon  your  success  in  all  your  experiments, 


96  Colcord's  System  of 

which  I  confess  is  a  most  agreeable  surprise  to 
me.  I  have  never  seen  any  ensilage  that  I 
would  care  to  feed  to  my  stock,  and  had  lost 
all  faith  in  the  article,  if  I  ever  had  any ;  but, 
when  I  came  to  see  the  green  forage  you  pre- 
serve, to  taste,  smell,  and  squeeze  it,  to  see  the 
cattle  eat  it,  the  milk  and  manure  that  come 
from  it,  the  herd  doubled,  and  you  for  the  first 
time  selling  hay,  my  astonishment  turned  to 
admiration ;  and  I  don't  care  who  knows  it.  It 
is  in  the  mouths  of  all  your  neighbors, —  I 
mean  the  facts  and  the  praise,  not  the  forage. 
If  I  had  not  seen  it,  assisted  in  harvesting  it, 
knowing  the  last  poor  crop,  and  the  year 
before  seeing  two-thirds  of  your  crop  blown 
flat  to  the  ground,  I  could  never  have  believed 
that  such  results  could  be  realized.  I  hope 
you  will  be  successful  in  introducing  your  sys- 
tem for  the  benefit  of  farmers  generally,  that 
others  may  reap  a  like  benefit  from  the  silo 
governor  that  you  are  doing. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALLEN  F.  SMITH. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  97 


WHAT   THE    BUTCHER   SAYS. 

Mr.  S.  M.  COLCORD  : 

Dear  Sir, —  Having  read  your  statements 
in  the  papers  about  your  system  of  pre- 
serving green  forage  in  silos,  and  being  fa- 
miliar with  your  farm  management  of  stock 
and  the  results  of  your  feeding  for  milk 
and  beef,  I  wish  to  add  a  few  words  of  testi- 
mony in  addition  to  what  others  say  about  you. 
I  have  watched  your  operations  carefully  in 
building  silos,  raising  and  harvesting  the  crop, 
and,  since  you  commenced  feeding  the  pre- 
served forage,  have  seen  you  double  the  herd, 
the  milk,  and  the  manure  the  first  year ;  and 
now  what  I  want  to  say  is  what  you  have  done 
in  the  way  of  beef.  In  former  years,  I  had 
nothing  to  complain  of.  It  was  like  other 
people's,  and  often  quite  rich  in  tallow;  but, 
since  you  have  been  feeding  this  preserved 
forage,  I  notice  a  big  change.  I  could  not 
help  laughing  when  I  read  your  account  of 
that  big  cow  that  you  fed  the  sour  ensilage 
to,  waited  an  hour  and  a  half  until  I  killed 
her,  and  then  opened  her  stomach,  and  the 
surprise  we  both  felt  when  we  found  no  gas 
in  the  stomach,  none  of  the  bad  smell  usually 


98  Colcord's  System  of 

found  in  the  stomachs  of  cows  just  slaugh- 
tered, nothing  there  but  the  forage,  without  any 
acid  or  bad  smell  in  it.  It  was  exactly  as  you 
stated  it ;  and  we  found  the  beef  was  fat  and 
well  mottled.  But  what  I  want  to  say  is  that 
the  later  animals  that  I  have  slaughtered  from 
your  farm  are  quite  an  improvement  upon  that 
one.  Your  last  ones  shrank  but  33  per  cent, 
in  weight.  They  were  very  fat,  and  tallo\ved 
quite  light.  The  meat  wras  unusually  well 
mottled  with  fat,  and  sold  for  first  quality. 
You  know  I  look  over  your  cattle  once  or 
twice  a  week,  and  what  surprised  me  was  how 
that  forage  can  make 'the  change.  The  hair 
on  the  cows  becomes  soft  and  smooth,  the 
skins  become  fine,  soft,  and  slippery.  The 
cows  are  gentle  and  very  quiet.  In  fact,  I  go 
into  no  barns  where  I  see  results  equal  to 
yours;  and  the  changes  go  on  so  rapidly,  after 
they  get  into  yours,  that  I  hardly  know  the 
cows.  There  is  no  doubt  that  your  forage 
and  the  way  you  feed  is  the  best  thing  yet  to 
get  the  best  beef. 

J.  PEMBER. 

MEDFIELD,  MASS. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  99 

PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE. 

NEW  YORK,  March  12,  1887. 

S.  M.  COLCORD,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir, —  I  have  been  very  much  inter- 
ested in  reading  your  letter,  giving  an  outline 
of  your  work  for  the  coming  season,  in  the  way. 
of  developing  and  perfecting  the  production  of 
Colcord's  green  fodder. 

I  feel  like  encouraging  you  in  this  work.  It 
is  in  the  right  direction ;  and,  with  your  pres- 
ent experience  and  freedom  from  prejudices, 
I  know  of  no  one  so  well  calculated  to  meet 
the  difficulties  connected  with  the  work,  and  to 
overcome  them.  My  judgment  is  that  you 
will  succeed,  and  with  success  will  come  one 
of  the  greatest  improvements  ever  made  to 
perfect  and  cheapen  the  proper  food  for  milch 
cows. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  you  at  any  time, 
and  to  assist  in  bringing  your  improvement 
into  notice,  etc.  Yours  very  truly, 

ISAAC  W.  WHITE. 

40  WALL  STREET,  ISTEW  YORK. 


ioo  Colcord's  System  of 


CHICAGO,  Oct.  31,  1888. 

S.  M.  COLCORD,  Dover,  Mass.: 

My  dear  Sir, —  Your  interesting  letter  of 
the  2 gth  is  here,  and  I  would  like  to  publish  it. 
I  like  these  letters  that  give  exact  facts  in  a 
definite  way,  and  enter  into  the  full  details. 
But  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  do  the 
most  good  to  you  and  the  public  by  reserving 
it  until  our  number  of  November  1 7.  We  are 
to  issue  100,000  of  that  number,  full  count. 
20,000  of  them,  at  least,  will  go  to  dairy  and 
stock  men.  We  are  willing  to  do  whatever  we 
can  editorially  to  make  known  anything  that  is 
really  sound,  and  given  for  the  benefit  of  our 
readers;  but  it  seems  to  us  that  you  ought  not 
to  lose  this  opportunity  of  presenting  some 
more  definite  advertisement,  and,  if  possible, 
some  cut  of  your  governor,  etc. 

Yours  very  truly, 

HOWARD  &  WILSON  PUBLISHING  Co., 
C.  H.  HOWARD,  Editor. 

We  note  what  you  say  in  regard  to  publish- 
ing a  book.  It  is  an  excellent  plan,  and  you 
ought  to  carry  it  out. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  101 

CHICAGO,  April  25,  1888. 
Mr.  S.  M.  COLCORD  : 

Dear  Sir, —  It  is  our  intention  to  give  up 
the  greater  part  of  our  issue  of  June  2  to  a 
thorough  discussion  of  the  important  subject 
of  ensilage.  We  should  like  to  have  your  cir- 
culars, and  all  the  information  you  can  give 
us  in  regard  to  this  subject,  more  particularly 
in  regard  to  your  process  of  preserving  sweet 
ensilage.  We  received  your  sample  of  sweet 
ensilage  some  time  ago,  and,  as  you  are  doubt- 
less aware,  gave  you  a  very  nice  notice. 

Our  object  is  to  educate  our  readers,  and 
furnish  them  with  the  latest  and  best  informa- 
tion on  this  important  subject;  and  we  spare 
no  pains  or  money  in  making  the  article  as 
complete  as  possible.  If  we  can  do  anything 
for  you  in  this  issue,  we  shall  be  happy  to  do 
so.  Kindly  let  us  hear  from  you. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JAS.  W.  WILSON. 


CHICAGO,  June  21,  1888. 
S.  M.  COLCORD,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir, —  Your  favor  of  June  18  to   Mr. 
Wilson  is  at  hand.     We  are  much  interested 


IO2  Colcord's  System  of 

in  your  letter.  Would  you  object  to  our  pub- 
lishing it?  It  gives  new  light  upon  your 
methods.  Of  course,  we  want  the  paper  which 
you  promise  as  to  results.  Meanwhile,  we 
must  keep  alive  the  interest  in  your  system. 
Hoping  for  your  permission  to  publish  the 
letter,  we  remain  very  sincerely  yours, 

C.  H.  HOWARD,  Editor  in  chief. 


NEW  YORK,  April  2,  1888. 
S.  M.  COLCORD,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir, —  Your  favor  of  2Qth  ult.  at  hand. 
I  feel  very  much  interested  in  the  discussion 
of  the  ensilage  question.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  time  is  at  hand  for  pushing  the  discussion, 
and  developing  your  views  as  to  the  proper 
way  of  preserving  corn  and  clover  for  future 
use.  I  believe  you  are  the  best  posted  man  in 
the  country,  both  practically  and  scientifically, 
and  therefore  able  to  educate  the  farmers  as 
to  their  interests  in  this  one  matter. 

The  question  clearly  is,  Will  cold  storage  or 
hot  storage  make  the  best  article  ?  The  more 
it  is  discussed,  the  better  for  you  as  well  as  the 
farmers.  Unquestionably,  cold  storage  proc- 
esses are  the  best,  and  ^will  produce  the  best 
results. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  103 

I  hope  at  an  early  day  to  see  the  discussion 
carried  on  in  the  Country  Gentleman,  published 
in  Albany,  which  has  an  immense  circulation, 
and  will  aid  greatly  in  bringing  your  ways  and 
ideas  to  the  notice  of  all  advanced  farmers. 

I  feel  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  great 
change  of  feeling  in  regard  to  ensilage.  The 
Rural  New  Yorker  is  soon  to  issue  a  number 
devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  question.  They 
have  already  some  points  to  publish  from  you. 
I  hope  you  will  keep  pushing;  and,  when  you 
hear  of  an  advanced  man  in  the  farming  line, 
send  him  a  circular,  write  him,  and  interest 
him,  if  possible.  Yours  truly, 

ISAAC  W.  WHITE. 


NEW  YORK,  July  24,  1888. 
S.  M.  COLCORD,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  letter,  the  Farm,  Field, 
and  Stockman,  and  the  sample  of  preserved 
green  forage,  came  duly  to  hand.  I  showed  the 
sample  to  the  editor  of  the  Rural  New  Yorker, 
and  left  your  letter  with  him  as  an  assistance 
in  writing  an  article  for  his  paper,  which  will 
soon  appear,  with  cuts  of  forage  before  feeding, 
and  also  that  taken  from  the  stomach  of  the 
cow  killed  by  you.  I  will  see  that  you  have  a 
copy  of  the  paper. 


104  Colcord's  System  of 

The  Rural  New  Yorker  people  are  very 
much  interested  in  your  way  of  preserving 
green  corn  fodder,  and  I  think  are  doing  much 
to  bring  you  prominently  before  the  farmers 
who  are  studying  up  the  matter. 

I  think,  with  a  little  patience  on  your  part, 
you  will  be  the  authority  on  the  preservation 
of  green  fodder. 

Very  truly, 

ISAAC  W.  WHITE, 


BOSTON,  July  29,  1888. 

My  dear  Colcord, —  The  copy  of  the  Farmy 
Field,  and  Stockman,  which  you  kindly  sent  me, 
was  duly  received.  I  have  read  with  much 
interest  every  word  relating  to  your  experi- 
ments, which  are  well  stated,  and  I  think  must 
be  convincing  to  every  candid,  intelligent  per- 
son interested  in  the  subject  of  ensilage. 
When  the  full  results  of  your  system  of  en- 
siloing  forage  come  to  be  known,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  about  its  taking  the  place  of  the 
empirical,  half-way  work  now  in  vogue  amongst 
the  farmers,  on  account  of  its  less  first  cost  of 
the  silo,  or  dumping-hole !  But  time  and  ex- 
perience will  cure  them,  and  when  the  effects 


I  „„        /,.,.,..,  M,-, 


3tu  !•••=••  rved  ''»•'.•••  .....  »i"  '•••  '.  fflfli 
i."""    i  .....  ,,,,    i  now},  as  they  SOOH  will  be 
,  -,,n  ,ee  all  •  •'!•«  •  tB<  Ehedfl  ='ba«-- 

,i.,,,,  .1 

i'  li  !••  '!••  'i    •  i-  u  '••  my  tttittd  that  }• 

.......  i    >  .........    '  .....  I'lsdfliflg  ll" 

"i  the  i- 
i"i  I-  u  .....  ill  dtt  ti"    i""f,  a«d  in  time  it 

••11, 
With  my  kitid  fei         -"J  best 


I   '     ' 


New  YuKfc,  May  24, 
8,  M.  (  '   •! 

/ '  "    -      ;    •  •  •  itt  tweipt  trf  y^tif  lettt  I 
' I-  yo«f  la^t 

the  p-'  •!•!'  •  M"-^ 

1  have  read  both  with  ^  *ed  i«-- 

'  ^ee  tf-   ' 

•  *yoy  t-  I'umtf 

•f  publication  OH  •         <  gave  / 

,  attd  was  aw  iwdw^'  ' :  ywa 

§e«d  me  aH<ythef  sample,  1  will  shmv  lite  ''»em, 

aswellas''1        '     •  wr^klttg  with,     ' 

Jiretliott  i«  tv'  •  •   ' 


io6  Colcord's  System  of 

tigate.  I  find,  with  most  of  those  having  expe- 
rience in  feeding  ensilage  to  milch  cows,  that 
their  testimony  goes  to  prove  that  milk,  when 
first  taken  from  the  cows,  seems  to  be,  and  is, 
all  right ;  but  when  they  ship  it, —  and  it  is 
often  thirty-six  hours  old  before  it  gets  into  the 
hands  of  the  consumer, —  then  it  has  some- 
thing offensive  to  it,  and  complaint  is  made  at 
once.  We  shipped  last  year  84,000  gallons ; 
and  I  wish  you  would  test  the  milk  from  the 
use  of  your  preserved  forage,  not  only  once, 
but  daily,  for  ten  days,  keeping  it  until  it 
sours,  and  having  good  tasters  and  smellers 
to  test  it  daily  at  different  times,  to  see  if  any 
offensive  flavor  or  odor  can  be  discovered. 

If  the  milk  will  stand  this  test,  as  ours 
does,  where  we  feed  on  corn  meal,  bran-  mid- 
dlings, cotton-seed  meal,  oatmeal,  hay,  and 
corn  fodder  dried,  then  I  think  you  are  lucky, 
because  there  then  will  be  no  objection  to  the 
preserved  green  forage. 

Yours  truly, 

ISAAC  W.  WHITE. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  107 

t 
ROCKY  RIDGE,  MD.,  Jan.  26,  1889. 

Mr.  S.  M.  COLCORD  : 

Dear  Sir, —  I  have  been  thinking  of  writing 
you  for  quite  a  while,  but  neglected  doing  so. 
Our  ensilage  turned  out  fine.  Our  corn  was 
good,  but  weather  was  wet,  and  very  unfavora- 
ble when  we  commenced  to  fill.  Sometimes 
too  wet  to  get  on  the  field  for  several  days. 
So  I  did  not  give  your  governor  as  fair  a  test 
as  I  wished  to  do,  had  I  been  able  to  fill 
quicker;  but  the  difference  in  waste  between 
the  two  pits*  is  very  marked.  In  the  one 
without  governors,  there  was  about  a  foot  of 
waste  around  the  sides,  while,  where  the  gov- 
ernors were,  the  waste  did  not  average  over 
three  inches  at  any  point.  I  think  this  due  to 
the  long  time  we  were  at  filling,  caused  by 
continued  rains,  and  our  inability  to  get  on  to 
the  field ;  but  we  are  thoroughly  convinced  of 
the  worthiness  of  the  governors,  and,  if  we 
live,  intend  building  two  more  large  pits  this 
spring,  and  will  send  you  an  order  for  gov- 
ernors for  both  pits. 

I  take  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  and 
read  all  your  articles  with  much  interest. 
With  best  wishes,  I  am 

Very  truly  yours, 

WILLIAM  H.  BIGGS. 


io8  Colcord's  System  of 

WHAT  LARGE  DAIRYMEN  SAY. 

NEW  YORK,  May  i,  1886. 
Mr.  S.  M.  COLCORD  : 

Dear  Sir, —  Your  interesting  letters  of 
26th  inst.  are  at  hand,  and  read  with  much 
pleasure.  I  feel  very  much  interested  in  all 
advances  and  improvements,  and  particularly 
so  in  the  direction  you  have  taken.  I  have 
been  studying  the  ensilage  question  for  some 
time,  and  am  well  acquainted,  theoretically, 
with  the  Fry  system,  and  some  time  ago  de- 
cided not  to  try  ensilage,  because  there  was 
too  much  doubt  and  uncertainty  in  the  ability 
to  produce  the  article  wanted, —  namely,  sweet 
ensilage.  If  Colcord's  green  forage,  or  fodder, 
can  be  produced  with  certainty,  and  not  be 
confounded  with  the  article  known  as  ensilage, 
which  has  a  fearfully  black  eye,  then  I  want  to 
make  and  use  it. 

You  can  hardly  appreciate  the  strong  preju- 
dice against  ensilage,  and  the  product  of  the 
dairy  from  its  use,  in  this  section.  It  is  so 
strong  that  there  is  no  use  in  trying  to  con- 
vince people  that  it  can  be  made  of  proper 
quality  to  feed  to  milch  cows.  The  only  way 


Preserving  Green  Forage  109 

for  milk  producers  this  way  is  to  give  up  the 
name  of  silo  and  ensilage  and  introduce  a  new 
article.  I  know  of  no  one  so  well  situated  as 
yourself  to  open  the  ball  by  calling  attention 
to  "  Colcord's  Green  Forage,  or  Fodder,"  as 
being  a  better  article  of  food  than  ensilage,  one 
being  a  product  of  fermentation,  and  the  other 
the  preservation  of  the  natural  conditions  of 
the  fodder,  stored  for  future  use. 

I  see  nothing  in  your  past  movements  to 
prevent  you  at  once  assuming  this  position,  to 
attract  the  attention  of  farmers,  and  particu- 
larly those  having  silos  and  using  ensilage. 
The  latter  can  be  informed  how  to  make  good 
their  expenditures  in  buildings  for  trying  to 
make  a  quality  of  ensilage  fit  for  dairy  pur- 
poses. 

Please  send  a  circular  to  Mr. ,  at , 

who  has  a  large  silo  that  has  not  been  used  for 
several  years,  and  is  sending  milk  to  this  mar- 
ket from  about  200  cows. 

Yours  truly, 

I.  W.  W. 


no  Colcord's  System  of 


PRESERVED  GREEN  FORAGE  FED  TO 
YOUNG  CALVES. 

I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  raising  a  few  of 
my  best  calves.  They  are  considerable  care 
and  trouble,  before  and  after  they  are  weaned, 
and  require  much  attention  to  give  them  a 
good  start  in  life.  I  had  one  dropped  last  year, 
after  my  silo  was  empty.  It  is  now  nine 
months  old,  and  has  been  fed  the  past  five 
months  on  my  preserved  green  forage,  with 
a  little  shorts,  and  is  looking  very  nice  and 
healthy.  I  also  have  three  calves,  which  I 
propose  to  raise.  One  is  five  weeks  old,  one 
four  weeks  old,  and  one  two  weeks  old.  The 
oldest  had  placed  before  her,  when  two  weeks 
old,  a  box  of  this  forage,  with  a  little  ground 
oats  strewn  over  it,  and  a  bucket  of  warm 
water,  with  a  little  ground  oats  stirred  in, 
placed  near  it ;  and  she  began  tasting  and  feed- 
ing upon  it.  In  a  few  days,  she  ceased  to  want 
or  take  any  milk,  and  when  a  month  old  was 
eating  this  food,  drinking  water,  and  chewing 
her  cud  like  a  cow.  The  one  four  weeks  old, 
being  in  the  same  pen,  began  doing  the  same 
thing  when  two  weeks  old,  and  now  feeds  from 
the  same  box,  contesting  with  her  mate  to  see 


Preserving  Green  Forage  1 1 1 

which  can  eat  the  fastest.  The  one  two  weeks 
old  is  a  large  Holstein.  Her  sire  weighed  2,140 
pounds.  It  was  very  weak  when  dropped,  very 
inanimate,  and  would  not  take  a  quart  of  milk 
a  day.  Her  faeces  were  very  loose  and  pale 
yellow,  and  appeared  to  be  growing  worse 
instead  of  better.  When  ten  days  old,  being 
in  the  same  enclosure  with  the  other  two,  she 
arose  and  went  for  the  green  forage.  The 
next  day,  she  was  frisky,  her  fecal  discharges 
became  normal,  she  now  eats  the  same  rations 
with  the  others,  all  of  them  doing  well.  The 
oldest  of  the  three  is  eating  too  much  to  make 
a  comely  appearance.  I  shall  continue  to  feed 
them  on  this  forage  and  shorts,  and  watch  the 
results.  If  it  should  prove  to  be  successful, 
and  that  calves  two  weeks  old  will  wean  them- 
selves on  this  forage,  merely  placed  before 
them,  that  it  will  regulate  their  bowels,  bring 
about  healthy  discharges,  keeping  them  so 
young  in  the  best  condition  for  growth  and 
improvement,  it  would  seem  to  be  a  very 
important  matter  to  stockmen. 

It  has  been  my  experience  with  cows  that 
any  disturbance  of  their  natural  functions,  like 
failing  appetite,  scours,  or  even  a  gargety  con- 
dition, is  readily  counteracted  by  feeding  on 
this  forage  alone ;  but,  as  corn  or  any  one 


ii2  Cotcord*s  System  of 

kind  of  food  is  not  a  perfect  ration,  the  better 
treatment  is  to  have  a  small  quantity  of  shorts 
or  wheat  bran  fed  with  it,  and  not  feed  green 
forage  alone  for  any  great  length  of  time.  I 
don't  wish  to  be  misunderstood  in  these  state- 
ments. I  have  had  no  personal  experience  in 
feeding  ensilage,  and  these  remarks  apply  to 
this  preserved  green  forage  only,  made  without 
heat  or  fermentation ;  but  from  the  examina- 
tions I  have  made,  and  what  I  have  seen,  I 
should  judge  that  ensilage,  as  generally  made 
and  fed,  would  have  an  opposite  effect 


[From  the  Massachusetts  Ploughman,  May  29,  1886.] 

THE   "SILO   GOVERNOR." 

In  the  increasing  importance  attaching  to 
the  silo  as  an  adjunct  to  the  modern  system 
of  farming,  any  improvement  proposed  for 
its  more  perfect  operation  as  an  ensilage 
maker  is  certain  to  be  welcomed  with  eager 
satisfaction.  A  very  great  improvement  has 
unquestionably  been  secured  by  the  combined 
ingenuity  and  scientific  experience  of  S.  M. 
Colcord,  which  was  made  the  subject  of  in- 
vestigation at  a  special  meeting  of  farmers 
in  the  Hall  of  Ploughman  Building,  in  which 


Preserving  Green  Forage  1 1 3 

a  large  number  of  ensilage  experts  took  part, 
and  a  phonographic  report  of  which  will  be 
read  on  the  first  page  of  the  present  issue  of 
the  Ploughman.  It  appears  that  Mr.  Colcord's 
attention  was  first  attracted  to  the  fact  that  the 
contents  of  no  two  silos  or  thfc  fermentations  in 
them  were  ever  alike.  It  was  by  no  means 
certain  that,  if  a  silo  made  good  ensilage  one 
year,  it  would  do  so  the  next.  From  a  series  of 
carefully  made  investigations  into  this  fact,  he 
felt  that  he  had  hit  upon  the  discovery  of  the 
real  cause  and  its  remedy.  Out  of  these  ob- 
servations and  this  study  was  evolved  the 
"  Silo  Governor."  His  principal  object  was  to 
prevent  the  development  of  bacteria  in  the 
process  of  putrid  fermentation.  The  effect  of 
the  governor  on  the  air  in  the  silo,  as  the 
ensilage  settles  down,  is  to  take  it  out.  In  what 
way  it  is  done,  the  explanation  of  Mr.  Colcord 
clearly  shows;  and  he  adds  the  highly  impor- 
tant statement  that  the  green  forage,  under 
his  improvement,  comes  out  without  showing 
any  of  the  usual  results  of  heat  and  fermen- 
tation, and,  with  no  destruction  to  the  corn, 
guaranteed  a  superlatively  good  quality  to  the 
product. 

In  the  silo,  as  generally  worked,  there  is  no 
way  for  the   air  to  escape  except  at  the  top ; 


H4  Colcord's  System  of 

*  and  this  it  cannot  do,  as  a  rule,  because  of  the 
extremely  heavy  weighting  and  the  close  pack- 
ing. In  consequence,  the  heat  and  fermenta- 
tion that  take  place  cause  the  decomposition 
of  the  air,  whose  component  parts  form  new 
compounds  with  other  gases  generated  by  the 
fermentation,  thus  largely  disposing  of  the  air 
and  gas.  The  bacteria  obtain  their  needed 
oxygen  from  the  sugar  and  starch  in  the  corn, 
and  thus  detract  from  the  quality  of  the 
ensilage  according  to  the  amount  of  destruc- 
tion caused.  The  silo  governor,  it  is  claimed 
by  its  inventor,  arrests  this  work  of  destruction 
going  on  in  the  green  forage ;  if  the  air  is 
got  out  of  the  ensilage,  there  will  be  no  heat, 
and  the  fodder  will  be  kept  in  a  natural  state ; 
if  the  juice  takes  the  place  of  air  which  has 
been  pressed  out,  it  will  remain  there,  and  the 
corn  fodder  will  be  preserved  in  it  as  in  syrup 
or  vegetable  extract.  Sugar  will  be  found  in 
the  heavy  butts,  and  the  ensilage  will  be  pre- 
served in  better  condition  for  food.  Testi- 
monials are  offered  that,  by  using  the  silo 
governor,  the  ensilage  has  less  acid,  is  of  a 
better  color,  has  no  odor,  and  is  moister  from 
top  to  bottom.  And  the  ensilage  holds  out 
better,  besides,  being  so  much  more  solid  in 
feeding.  The  value  of  the  governor  is  stated 


Preserving  Green  Forage  115 

in  a  series  of  intelligible  points  elicited  in  the 
discussion  at  the  farmers'  meeting ;  and  we 
would  advise  a  careful  perusal  of  our  phono- 
graphic report  of  the  entire  proceedings. 


ABOUT    FERTILIZERS. 

There  is  no  doubt;  that  fertilizers  will  con- 
tinue to  receive  the  close  attention  of  farmers. 
The  importance  of  the  subject  increases  daily, 
and  deserves  the  careful  attention  of  all  culti- 
vators of  the  soil.  The  information  that  has 
come  to  us  through  the  laboratory,  science, 
and  theory,  is  very  great ;  yet  the  information 
imparted  to  the  farmer  has  not  been  put  in 
such  shape  as  to  enable  him  to  reap  the  full 
benefit,  and  the  farmer  has  not  availed  him- 
self of  the  benefits  to  himself  and  his  land 
that  might  have  been  derived,  had  he  carefully 
studied  the  subject  and  made  careful  experi- 
ments on  his  land.  But,  at  the  present  time, 
the  outlook  seems  to  be  more  encouraging; 
and  we  may  safely  look  for  better  results  in 
the  future,  as  investigations  are  now  being 
made  that  promise  to  give  new  and  better 
light  in  addition  to  what  we  now  have. 

The  substances  composing  fertilizers,  their 
relative  quantities  and  values,  are  now  better 


n6  Colcord's  System  of 

known.  Those  that  are  supplied  from  the  air, 
those  that  are  volatile,  and  those  that  are  in- 
organic, with  formulae  for  different  crops,  are 
now  accessible  to  farmers  who  will  take  the 
pains  to  investigate  and  learn  to  experiment; 
and  any  one  can  buy  the  individual  raw  mate- 
rials which  his  land  or  crops  require,  and  learn 
to  draw  largely  from  nature  instead  of  all  from 
the  manufacturer,  and  can  compound  them  to 
his  mind,  or  have  them  made  available  for  use 
and  compounded  in  the  required  proportions. 

Mr.  Benjamin  Randall,  Chelsea  Street,  East 
Boston,  a  thoroughly  reliable  miller  of  many 
years'  experience  in  the  business,  has  done 
work  of  this  kind  for  me  with  satisfactory  re- 
sults. The  gain  supposed  to  be  made  in  this 
way  is  by  bringing  the  producer  and  consumer 
together,  saving  the  profits  of  the  middleman. 

Those  who  cannot  designate  what  they  want 
would  do  well  to  try  the  complete  fertilizer 
made  by  J.  A.  Tucker  &  Co.,  13  Doane  Street, 
Boston,  known  as  the.  Bay  State  Superphos- 
phates. I  have  used  it  for  my  corn  crops,  with 
very  good  results. 

What  all  farmers  should  do  is  to  make  the 
most  of  their  manure  piles.  They  should  feed 
for  manure  as  well  as  milk,  which  can  be  done 
conjointly  with  increased  profit.  The  manure 


Preserving  Green  Forage  117 

piles  may  be  used  as  compost  heaps  by  adding 
to  them  such  articles  as  will  enhance  their 
value  for  general  purposes,  special  crops,  or 
the  special  needs  of  the  land.  Such  articles 
as  yield  potash,  phosphoric  acid,  soda,  mag- 
nesia, nitrogen,  and  ammonia,  may  be  added 
weekly,  spreading  them  over  the  piles,  and 
saving  all  the  droppings,  liquid  or  solid.  This 
I  do  partially  by  keeping  the  piles  under  cover 
out  of  the  way  of  frost,  passing  a  current  of 
air  over  them  whenever  I  can  get  it  above  the 
freezing  point.  This  removes  a  large  quantity 
of  water,  retaining  the  valuable  part  of  the 
liquid  manure,  and  keeps  the  manure  of  proper 
consistence  for  retaining  the  gases,  using  for 
bedding  sand,  loam,  sawdust,  straw,  and  other 
dry  litter,  as  absorbents  and  disinfectants. 
These  things  add  to  the  manure  in  quantity 
and  quality,  and  should  be  used  also  to  get 
the  best  results  mechanically,  also  saving  the 
manure  values,  that  usually  escape  as  gases, 
by  fixing  or  compounding  them  as  they  rise 
from  the  piles.  To  illustrate,  if  you  spread 
acid  superphosphates  (which  means  bone 
treated  with  sulphuric  acid  in  excess)  over  the 
piles  in  good  mechanical  condition  for  mod- 
erate decomposition,  the  gases  which  are 
evolved  will  unite  with  the  acid  phosphates, 


u8  Colcord's  System  of 

and  become  fixed  or  non-volatile.  This  acts 
also  as  a  disinfectant,  purifying  the  air  of  the 
stable.  The  sulphuric  acid,  the  phosphoric 
acid,  and  lime  of  the  bone,  being  non-volatile, 
are  in  the  best  condition  to  unite  chemically 
and  mechanically  with  the  volatile  principles. 
Each  ingredient  becomes  available  for  plant 
food.  The  whole  mass  is  homogeneous,  with 
loss  reduced  to  the  minimum. 

By  feeding  for  manure  such  articles  as  cot- 
ton-seed, flaxseed,  or  oil-cake,  shorts,  or  wheat- 
bran,  while  they  go  to  make  up  a  perfect  food 
for  the  cow,  producing  a  greater  flow  and 
better  quality  of  milk,  also  improving  the 
cattle  in  flesh,  and  giving  them  a  fine,  comely 
appearance,  it  is  also  stated  that  more  than 
half  their  value  goes  through  the  cattle  into 
the  manure  pile.  The  chemists  and  the  crops 
seem  also  to  prove  it.  The  farmers  ought 
also  to  prove  or  disprove  it  in  their  way  by 
feeding  a  certain  number  of  cows  each  with 
and  without  these  articles,  carefully  weighing 
their  alvine  discharges  and  planting  their  ex- 
periment plats  in  all  other  ways  alike,  then 
adding  half  the  grain  rations  to  another  por- 
tion of  the  manure  that  does  not  contain  the 
grain  rations,  and  again  using  half  the  grain 
rations  as  fertilizer  without  any  manure,  also 
.using  a  full  grain  ration  without  manure. 


(.Irccn  Forage  119 

These  grain  fertilizers  to  be  well  mixed  with 
soil,  to  prevent  burning  up  the  seed,  and 
watered  equally,  to  develop  their  decomposi- 
tion. I  am  aware  that  these  experiments 
would  not  be  scientific  or  good  in  theory,  but 
they  would  pay  for  the  time  and  trouble  to 
the  farmer  just  the  same;  but,  if  in  any  way 
he  should  find  that  more  than  half  the  cost 
of  his  grain  goes  into  the  manure,%and  thinks 
it  an  economical  way  of  making  manure,  let 
him  not  overdo  the  thing  by  converting  his 
herd  into  fertilizer  factories.  Many  herds  are 
already  being  injured  by  this  crowding  process. 

Temperance  on  the  farm  will  apply  to  the 
barn  and  the  crops  as  well  as  in  the  house. 
The  end  sought  should  be  the  greatest  profit 
with  the  least  loss.  This  can  be  done,  doubly 
or  even  trebly,  by  using  this  system  of  mak- 
ing and  feeding  preserved  green  forage,  and 
making  the  most  and  best  use  of  the  manure. 

There  is  one  more  point  about  fertilizers: 
it  is  commutation,  a  mechanical  change  of 
state  in  the  ingredients ;  it  is  the  difference  in 
value  of  bone  between  ground  or  granulated 
bone  and  fine  or  flour  of  bone.  The  one  is 
available  the  second  or  third  year  after  being 
applied  to  the  land :  the  other  is  available  the 
first  season.  I  use  the  term  as  somewhat  anal- 


I2O  ColcoriFs  System  of 

agous  to  the  term  used  about  phosphoric  acid, 
and  illustrate  it  as  it  may  be  applied  to  iron. 
If  you  simply  pulverize  iron  very  fine,  you  can 
so  change  its  condition  that  you  can  set  fire 
to  it  with  a  match,  and  burn  it  up.  So  you 
may  commute  bones  so  fine  that  they  will 
become  available  for  plant  food  very  soon  after 
being  applied  to  the  damp  earth,  and  all  plants 
take  their  food  in  liquid  form.  The  reader 
may  think  that  these  statements  should  be 
commuted,  to  make  them  available,  so  I  will 
state  that,  when  commercial  fertilizers  were 
in  their  infancy,  I  bought  of  this  same  J.  A. 
Tucker,  before  referred  to,  who  was  then 
comparatively  juvenile  and  the  first  superphos- 
phate man  I  ever  heard  of.  I  took  some  of 
his  fresh  ground  and  fleshy  bones,  ranging  in 
size  from  the  point  of  a  needle  to  a  thumb- 
nail, and  applied  it  to  a  grape-vine  in  a  sickly 
condition  vegetating  in  a  small  back  yard  in 
the  city,  and  raised  the  sickly,  emaciated  vine 
to  the  top  of  a  three-story  building,  training  it 
to  the  sunshine,  where  I  raised  quantities  of 
grapes  upon  it  annually,  the  phosphates  being 
immediately  and  continuously  available. 

I  also  visited  the  works  of  the  same  Mr. 
Benjamin  Randall  before  mentioned,  and  ex- 
amined the  various  mills  in  use  by  his  prede- 


Preserving  Green  Forage  121 

cessors.  One  of  these  mills  commuted  so  fine 
that  a  lump  of  anthracite  coal  the  size  of  a 
hen's  egg  would  fill  a  quart  bottle,  and  another 
would  pulverize  hard  cobble-stones,  the  size  of 
my  two  fists,  as  fast  as  I  could  throw  them 
into  the  mill.  Mr.  Randall  was  employed  by 
his  predecessors,  the  mills  afterwards  coming 
into  his  possession,  and  from  long  experience 
is  the  proper  person  in  the  proper  place  to 
produce  the  best  ground  bone.  The  proper 
amount  of  commutation  is  a  prominent  factor 
in  the  manufacture  of  fertilizers. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  speak  of 
fertilizers,  except  in  a  general  way,  because  in 
this  little  book  I  try  to  confine  myself  to  state- 
ments of  facts,  and  say  little  about  what  I 
don't  know;  and  fertilizers  to  me  are  some- 
thing like  oleomargarine  and  sausages, —  vague 
and  uncertain  in  composition,  yet  having  a 
value  as  food  for  vegetables  and  an  improved 
food  for  vegetarians,  although  unknown  com- 
pounds, prescribed  as  simples. 


122  Colcord's  System  of 


[From  the  New  England  Farmer :] 

SILOS   AND    ENSILAGE. 

THE    FAVORABLE    REPORTS  CONTINUE. SOME  NOT- 
ABLE   EXPERIMENTS. AN    AIR-TIGHT    SILO. 

One  of  our  letters  of  inquiry  about  ensilage 
went  to  Mr.  S.  M.  Colcord,  of  Dover,  Mass., 
whose  response  was  an  invitation  to  come 
and  see  his  silo,  which  a  representative  of  the 
Farmer  and  Homes  promptly  accepted.  Mr. 
Colcord  has  had  a  number  of  years'  experience 
with  ensilage,  and  believes  in  it  thoroughly; 
but  he  also  believes  that  many  ensilagists 
allow  the  contents  of  their  silos  to  heat  and 
ferment  so  as  to  be  seriously  injured.  He 
makes  the  broad  assertion  that  nine-tenths  of 
all  the  ensilage  produced  fails  to  fulfil  its  pos- 
sibilities. He  is  a  chemist  as  well  as  farmer, 
and  has  found  in  some  samples  of  ensilage 
acetic  acid, —  in  a  cow's  daily  ration  of  60 
pounds,  an  acidity  of  acid  strength  equal  to 
three  gallons  of  vinegar  of  standard  strength. 
Ensilage  so  sour  or  which  is  partly  putrid  he 
believes  to  be  unhealthy.  Consequently,  he 
has  spent  much  time  and  money  in  experi- 


Preserving  Green  Forage  123 

ments  looking  toward  a  perfect  control  of  the 
contents  of  the  silo,  with  a  view  to  making 
ensilage  more  similar  to  canned  fruits  than  the 
sour,  odoriferous  product  found  in  many  barns. 
This  is  to  be  accomplished  by  removing  the 
air  from  the  silo  wrhile  filling  and  after  it  is 
filled,  as  air  is  the  medium  in  which  the  bac- 
teria of  fermentation  and  decay  are  conveyed 
from  place  to  place.  To  prove  his  theories, 
he  built  a  new  silo  in  the  spring,  and  con- 
structed it  with  such  thoroughness  and  accu- 
racy that  we  give  an  illustration  of  the  appear- 
ance of  things  when  the  silo  was  under  way, 
in  order  to  emphasize  the  care  that  was  taken 
to  get  accurate  results.  The  picture,  made 
from  a  photograph,  shows  the  framework  and 
the  walls  of  the  silo  just  beginning  to  rise. 
The  silo  is  32  x  12,  20,  with  the  cement  walls 
17  feet  high  and  3  feet  of  plank  above  this. 
This  plank  annex  is  filled  at  first;  but,  after 
the  ensilage  settles,  none  is  intended  to  come 
above  the  cement  wall.  The  walls  are  18 
inches  thick,  composed  of  one  part  cement, 
two  parts  coarse  sand,  two  parts  small  cobble- 
stones, two  parts  broken  stone,  mixed  with 
about  30  gallons  of  water  to  each  barrel  of 
cement.  The  foundation  below  the  wall  is  20 
wide  and  1 6  to  20  inches  deep,  built  of  cobble- 


124  Colcord^s  System  of 

stone  and  fine  gravel,  made  level  on  top,  and 
thin  cement  mortar  poured  over  it  and  fin- 
ished level.  This  foundation  is  surrounded 
by  a  tile  drain.  The  land  around  it  inside 
and  outside  was  also  made  quite  level  and 
hard,  to  receive  the  staging.  The  timbers  on 
each  side  the  wall  were  6x6  inches,  about  i 
foot  higher  than  the  wall  was  to  be  built,  and 
placed  about  5  feet  apart.  Planks  14  to  1 6 
inches  wide,  planed  on  the  inside  in  a  planing 
mill  to  make  them  of  even  thickness,  were 
placed  on  the  inside  of  these  timbers  so  as 
to  slide  up  easily,  as  the  cement  set.  This 
trough  was  filled  but  once  daily,  which  set 
firmly  during  the  night,  keeping  the  walls 
level.  The  timbers  on  the  inside  of  the  pit 
were  erected  first.  They  were  straight-grained 
and  not  twisted.  The  planks  that  tied  these 
timbers  together  at  the  top,  middle,  and  bot- 
tom were  2x8  inches,  sawed  square  at  the 
ends,  of  equal  lengths.  They  were  spiked 
firmly  to  the  upright  timbers  and  cross-braced, 
taking  the  utmost  pains  to  keep  the  timbers 
exactly  equi-distant  and  plumb.  This  work 
was  so  thoroughly  done  that  the  walls  of  this 
pit,  when  the  staging  was  removed,  did  not 
vary  i-S  of  an  inch  in  length  or  breadth,  from 
top  to  bottom.  The  outside  timbers  were  put 


Preserving  Green  Forage  125 

up  equi-distant  to  match  the  inside  ones,  and 
the  cross  pieces  of  i  x  6  fence  boards,  6  feet 
long,  nailed  to  the  inside  and  outside  timber, 
and  also  to  the  4x4  outside  staging  support, 
as  shown  in  the  engraving.  As  the  wall  was 
built  up,  these  cross  pieces  were  sawed  away, 
leaving  the  inside  and  outside  staging  sepa- 
rate, but  firm,  only  tied  together  at  the  top. 

The  engraving  also  shows  6  i%-inch  iron 
rods  built  into  the  wall  from  the  bottom  to 
4  feet  above  the  top.  When  the  walls  were 
finished,  these  rods  passed  through  8x8  cross 
timbers,  and  were  terminated  with  double 
nuts. 

The  silo  was  filled  with  corn-stalks  and 
ears  cut  in  *4-inch  lengths.  A  cover  of  2- 
inch  splined  planks  was  then  fitted  over  the 
top,  and  the  joint  between  the  planks  and  the 
wall  was  covered  with  rubber  packing.  The 
planks  were  then  covered  with  tarred  building 
paper  and  several  inches  of  fine  sand,  making 
the  whole  as  perfectly  air-tight  as  possible. 
Then  8  2-inch  jack-screws  were  placed  be- 
tween the  cover  and  the  8x8  timbers  across 
the  top,  and  the  requisite  pressure  given  to 
the  ensilage,  forcing  out  all  of  the  air,  giving 
a  density  of  50  pounds  to  the  cubic  foot.  Mr. 
Colcord  has  an  ingenious  arrangement  of 


126  .       Colcprd's  System  of 

pipes  about  the  top  and  bottom,  and  through 
this  silo,  by  which  he  can  make  investigations. 
He  has  lowered  a  thermometer  into  it  three 
times  a  day,  and  is  confident  that  no  heating 
has  taken  place.  He  can  also  draw  off  the 
juices  from  the  bottom. 

The  silo  was  opened  a  few  days  before  the 
reporter's  visit.  The  opening  was  made  by 
removing  only  two  of  the  end  planks,  and  tak- 
ing out  a  narrow  strip,  exposing  a  minimum 
amount  of  ensilage  to  the  air  at  a  time.  The 
ensilage  had  been  so  compacted  by  the  intense 
pressure  when  it  was  first  put  in  that  it  had 
to  be  cut  down  with  a  hay-knife,  slicing  off 
almost  like  cheese.  It  was  so  solid  that  the 
ensilage  next  to  the  opening  remained  in  posi- 
tion, there  being  no  trouble  from  "  caving  in." 
The  ensilage  was  the  sweetest  the  Farmer 
man  ever  saw.  There  was  no  perceptible 
sourness  or  disagreeable  taste  to  it.  The  odor 
of  it  was  hardly  noticeable  in  the  barn,  and 
it  was  very  moist.  Water  could  be  wrung 
out  from  samples  taken  from  the  top  under 
the  cover. 

The  pipes  about  the  bottom  of  the  silo,  that 
allow  the  exit  of  the  air,  favor  the  rapid  set- 
tling of  the  ensilage  as  the  silo  is  filled ;  and, 
when  it  was  half  full,  it  settled  so  fast  that  3 
inches  of  juice  settled  at  the  bottom. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  127 

The  corn  for  the  ensilage  was  raised  on  a 
field  that  previously  produced  one-half  a  ton 
of  hay  to  the  acre.  Five  hundred  pounds  of 
Tucker's  Bay  State  Superphosphate  per  acre 
were  applied  with  Kemp's  manure-spreader, 
and  500  pounds  more  were  applied  in  drills. 
The  corn  was  planted  with  an  Eclipse  Corn 
Planter,  which  dropped  i  kernel  every  3 
inches,  at  the  rate  of  4  acres  per  day. 


[From  the  New  England  Farmer^ 

SWEET  ENSILAGE. 

The  readers  of  these  columns  will  remem- 
ber that  last  fall  we  printed  a  very  interesting 
account  of  a  visit  to  the  silo  of  Mr.  Col- 
cord,  of  Dover,  Mass.,  and  illustrated  his  silo 
in  process  of  construction.  It  was  built  air- 
tight, with  smooth,  perpendicular  walls,  the 
opposite  walls  being  exactly  equal  distance 
from  each  other,  so  that  under  pressure  the 
fodder  might  descend  with  the  least  lateral 
pressure  and  the  covering  come  down  evenly 
between  the  walls.  Mr.  Colcord's  aim  is  to 
preserve  ensilage  without  its  heating  or  chang- 
ing in  the  least,  so  that  it  will  be  veritably 
analogous  to  canned  goods.  On  filling  the 


128  Colcord's  System  of 

silo,  a  slight  acetic  tendency  was  noticed, 
which  passed  away  in  a  short  time,  some- 
thing not  unlike  the  change  in  the  acidity  of 
a  Baldwin  apple  from  November  to  May. 
Carbonic  acid  was  also  noticed ;  and,  as  this 
is  heavier  than  air,  it  was  supposed  that  this 
in  a  measure  displaced  the  air  in  the  silo,  thus 
assisting  Mr.  Colcord  in  his  desire  to  make  the 
ensilage  perfectly  free  from  air,  which  must  be 
present  if  there  is  any  fermentation.  One 
very  peculiar  thing  about  the  contents  of  the 
silo,  as  it  filled,  was  the  large  amount  of  juice 
which  accumulated  at  the  bottom ;  but  this  was 
afterwards  absorbed,  apparently  by  capillary 
attraction,  and  brought  even  to  the  very  top. 
In  feeding  the  ensilage,  it  was  taken  out  in 
vertical  layers ;  and  at  any  time  large  quanti- 
ties of  juice  can  be  squeezed  from  it,  even  from 
portions  taken  from  the  top.  The  result  of 
this  experiment  was  a  perfectly  sweet,  juicy 
ensilage,  without  any  evidence  of  putrefac- 
tion, and  only  slight  acidity.  The  cattle  eat 
it  readily,  there  is  no  waste,  and  no  odor 
from  the  forage  about  the  barn  or  on  the 
hands  or  clothing  of  those  handling  it.  The 
silo  was  filled  with  mature  corn  in  full  milk, 
just  beginning  to  glaze  and  ripen,  which  would 
have  yielded  about  100  bushels  of  shelled  corn, 


Preserving  Green  Forage  129 

so  that  by  the  use  of  this  silo  he  had  no  corn 
to  husk,  shell,  or  take  to  the  mill. 

The  ensilage  was  fed  to  19  head  of  cattle, 
17  being  milch  cows.  65  pounds  were  fed 
daily,  with  some  bran  to  balance  the  ration. 
The  milk-flow  increased,  and  in  this  respect 
the  showing  was  very  satisfactory;  but  the 
gain  in  flesh  was  even  more  marked.  16  of 
the  cows  gained  in  four  months  2,765  pounds, 
and  1 6  gained  1,224  pounds  in  30  days,  i  of 
them  gained  in  weight  an  average,  within  a 
small  fraction,  of  5  pounds  daily  during  the  30 
days,  another  4  %  pounds  daily,  another  3  5-6 
pounds  daily.  One  large  cow  was  fed  on  60 
or  70  pounds  daily  for  90  days,  during  which 
time  she  grew  in  weight  2  pounds  and  5 
ounces  daily.  She  was  fed  19  pounds  of  this 
forage  an  hour  and  a  half  before  she  was 
killed;  and,  after  being  slaughtered,  the  con- 
tents of  her  stomach  were  examined,  and  found 
to  be  sweet,  with  no  offensive  odor.  The  ani- 
mal was  very  meaty.  Three  days  before  she 
was  butchered,  she  weighed  1,418. 

The  1 5th  of  May  the  silo  was  three-fourths 
empty,  the  corn  in  the  lower  part  was  con- 
densed by  pressure  to  one-half  the  space  occu- 
pied by  the  upper  half,  but,  on  account  of  the 
absorption  of  the  juice,  a  cubic  foot  in  the 


130  C chord's  System  of 

upper  half  weighed  a  little  more  than  a  cubic 
foot  in  the  lower  half ;  yet  in  feeding  value 
they  were  equal. 

All  his  hay  was  fed  last  year  to  about  half 
the  amount  of  stock,  but  this  year  half  of  the 
hay  will  be  left  over  from  the  use  of  the  silo. 
The  juice  from  this  forage  is  odorless,  agree- 
able to  the  taste,  and  at  a  temperature  of  60 
to  80  degrees  turns  to  a  pure,  weak  corn  vin- 
egar. 

This  feeding  experiment  leads  Mr.  Colcord 
to  think  that  the  first  process  of  digestion  is 
done  in  the  silo  to  a  great  extent,  and  that  a 
certain  quantity  of  acidity  is  required  in  this 
first  process.  If  it  can  be  done  as  well  or  bet- 
ter without  using  the  vital  force  of  the  animal, 
it  seems  to  be  a  matter  of  great  importance. 


ENSILAGE  A  PROMOTER   OF   DIGESTION 
AND  ASSIMILATION. 

[I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  give  the  name  of  the  author  of  the 
following  able  article.] 

In  ensilage  there  may  be  a  slight  loss  in  the 
carbo-hydrate  elements,  and  a  gain  is  made  in 
protein,  and  increased  digestibility  of  the  rest, 
which  gives  feeding  value  to  what  has  often 
been  termed  the  water  in  ensilage.  It  is  not 


Preserving  Green  Forage  131 

only  easily  digested,  but  also  helps  digest  other 
richer  foods,  including  grain  ;  and  thus,  adding 
the  natural  juices  of  plants  to  the  mixed  ration, 
aids  nature  to  assimilate  them  without  calling 
upon  the  digestive  economy  of  the  animal  to 
do  all  the  work.  In  the  other  cases,  all  this 
matter  is  dried  down  into  a  hard  condition,  and 
must  have  water  to  reabsorb  it,  freshen  it  up 
and  dissolve  it,  which  requires  a  good  deal  of 
extra  force.  If  you  take  an  apple,  you  will  find 
the  nutriment  all  in  a  soluble  condition ;  and, 
when  you  take  it  into  the  stomach,  it  is  ready 
to  go  into  the  circulation  at  once.  If  you  dry 
that  apple,  all  that  nutriment  becomes  like 
rawhide,  and  it  must  be  soaked  up;  and,  when 
you  have  done  that,  you  have  changed  its  con- 
dition. You  can  never  get  it  back  in  the  same 
condition  it  was  before  the  drying  was  done, 
and  it  takes  more  energy  and  force  to  digest 
that  dry  food  than  in  its  green  state.  That  is 
the  pith  of  the  whole  matter. 

The  nutriment,  or  the  sugar,  in  dry  food  is 
not  necessarily  changed  by  the  evaporation  of 
the  water,  but  it  is  simply  breaking  the  chemi- 
cal union  of  the  water  with  the  rest  of  the  com- 
pound ;  and  that  chemical  reunion  has  got  to 
be  restored  by  energies  of  the  stomach,  which 
makes  extra  work  and  makes  it  slow.  In  feed- 


132  Co /cord's  System  of 

ing  a  cow,  you  want  to  give  her  what  she  can 
eat  in  a  given  time.  A  dry  feed  may  contain 
as  much  nutriment ;  but  you  cannot  get  as 
much  out  of  it,  because  it  takes  so  long  to  do 
it  that  the  animal  has  got  to  support  itself 
while  it  is  being  digested.  The  point  is  simply 
this :  that  in  the  green  stage  the  albumen  and 
other  matter  is,  to  a  large  extent,  already  in 
solution  in  a  condition  in  which,  when  it  is 
separated  from  the  fibrous  matter,  it  can  be 
taken  right  into  the  circulation  and  appropri- 
ated. In  wetting  or  steaming  fodder,  it  will 
help  considerably;  but  it  will  not  overcome  the 
change  which  the  feed  undergoes  in  the  desic- 
cation and  soaking  up  again. 


[From  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  March  2,  1889.] 

COLCORD'S  PRESERVED  GREEN  FORAGE. 

GREAT    GAIN    IN    FLESH. 

The  following  letter  has  been  received  from 
Mr.  Colcord:  — 

Referring  to  my  communication  published 
in  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  Nov.  17, 
1888,  after  I  had  filled  my  silo  with  very  poor 
green  frosted  fodder,  1  now  send  you  the  re- 
port of  my  results  with  that  crop. 


/Vi  •-,/.  Y/:V     I  in'*' it     /•;>/ ,/•;,-  I  33 

I  pressed  the  (over  down  upon  the  cnrn 
slowly,  and  perfectly  lev<  I  uuhl  I  b.id  in  I  IK 
bottom  ol  the  hilo  -?o  im  hes  ol  juice-.  There 


heat    and    lcnncnt.it inn.      Much    oi   these   acids 

VV.l'i     -il  >'.ol  I  ><•<  |       |>y     the     jlIHe,     «ai|sim.'     ,1      |>. utl.il 

vacuum,  vvba  b,  vvitb  the*  pj<'v.ui«  ,  -^-t    up  <  .tpil 
l.ti  y  .tt  1  I;K  t  ion,  and  bi  ouidit   up  t  h<*  )ui<v  r  vml  y 

throughout  the  mass  to  the  top  plank.  W  h  1 1  •  • 
thii  was  going  on,  the  temperature  wai  gradu- 

ally  iallin-  in  tin*  -,ilo.      (I    LiM-p  a  1  hrrmomrtcr 

'"  the  centre  of  the  silo,  and  examine  it  daily.) 

Upon  nprnini'i  tin-  -iilo  tn  lc<-(|  linin  i!  w 
COUld  pl"< ••-/•>  out  '•>  to  lo  (jlJU<<'^  ol  th<-  jilicr 
from  10  ounces  oj  the  inriiL'i*  taken  |j<)iu  any 

part  of  the  silo.    Having  a  surplus  Quantity  of 

jui<  c  at  tin-  Ixittom,  w<-  di'-vv  it  oil  and  b'd  O 
poiindh,  mixed  With  ^hoiK,  <|aily  to  ea<  h  cow. 

I  1 1  r  .     j  1 1 !'  <       w.r.    '   I*  .1 1  •,  <  •   I      .  1 1  j<  I     1 1'  .1 1  I  y     '  ><  1 1  •! 

[eti, 

'I   w«  lv<      oi     my   *  ovy-i    v.nned     m     '.v  i:dil,   iioin 
June    to    l)e(cmber   i,   i  ,u«/)    pounds,   and    wen- 

in  very  good  condition;  but  upon  this  gain, 
fed  upon  this  forage  60  poundi  daily,  with  a 
quarts  gluten  meal  and  8  quarts  shorts,  their 

;>..m    v/.r,     /•;<,    pound",    additional   in    lliiily  d..y,( 


134  Colcord's  System  of 

the  milkers  nearly  doubling  their  milk,  the 
others  gaining  in  weight. 

Considering  the  quality  of  the  corn  put  into 
the  silo,  I  think  this  is  a  remarkable  showing  ; 
and  it  would  seem  to  be  an  impossibility  for 
any  corn  crop  to  be  a  failure,  with  a  good  silo. 

Green  forage  preserved  by  this  system  is 
better  and  of  greater  feeding  value  during  the 
last  month  than  during  the  first  month,  taking 
it  from  the  silo. 

I  can  see  no  reason  to  doubt  perfect  success 
every  year  with  the  crop,  the  silo,  the  system, 
and  the  silo  governor.  By  using  this  system, 
there  is  no  waste  or  loss  of  the  corn.  By  using 
the  governor,  all  the  air  and  free  gases  are  re- 
moved, which  prevents  heat  and  fermentation 
(we  have  never  had  above  78°  of  heat):  conse- 
quently, we  have  no  foul  odors,  and  50  per 
cent,  more  of  this  forage  can  be  fed  to  the  cat- 
tle than  of  ordinary  ensilage. 

THE    ADVANTAGE    OF   JUICE. 

There  is  also  a  great  advantage  in  having 
the  juice  from  the  corn  taken  up  evenly 
throughout  the  mass,  reducing  the  tempera- 
ture, producing  a  condition  similar  to  canned 
goods  and  superior,  inasmuch  as  the  corn  is 
soaking  under  pressure  in  free  juice,  render- 


Preserving  Green  Forage  135 

ing  it  soft  and  pulpy,  more  assimilable  as 
food,  and  of  much  greater  feeding  value. 

My  stock  was  fed  upon  this  forage  until  July 
20.  After  that  time,  the  milk-flow  fell  off 
about  half.  I  commenced  feeding  the  pre- 
served forage  again,  November  25  ;  and  during 
the  next  thirty-five  days  the  flow  of  milk 
doubled  from  the  same  cows,  and  the  dry 
stock  increased  in  flesh,  in  proportion  to  the 
increased  flow  of  milk  from  the  milkers. 

As  I  weigh  the  fodder  every  time  it  is  fed, 
and  as  the  cows  are  weighed  every  thirty  days, 
I  am  able  to  speak  accurately  as  to  results.  I 
have  tried  to  make  a  comparison  with  green 
corn  fresh  from  the  field ;  but,  as  my  cows 
would  not  eat  a  large  part  of  the  green  stalks, 
I  could  not  get  at  a  sufficiently  accurate  esti- 
mate for  publication.  My  men  who  weighed 
550  pounds  of  the  fresh  green  corn,  at  a 
feed,  thought  that  amount  was  about  equal  to 
375  pounds  of  the  preserved  green  forage. 

I  put  into  a  very  good  silo,  constructed  on 
my  system,  last  year,  two  governors  for  W.  H. 
Bent,  Natick,  Mass.  I  have  examined  the 
forage  that  he  is  now  feeding  from  it  to  a  very 
fine  herd 'of  blooded  Holsteins.  The  quality 
of  the  preserved  forage  was  equal  to  mine,  but 
I  have  not  compared  his  feeding  results  with 


136  Colcord's  System  of 

mine.  They  cannot  be  the  same,  because  he 
has  taken  from  one  of  his  cows  40  cans  (680 
pounds)  of  milk  in  ten  days.  None  of  my 
cows  will  hold  as  much  in  twenty-four  hours, 
to  say  nothing  of  gaining  on  that. 

I  mention  this  here  to  show  that  others 
can  get  just  as  good  feed  and  results  by  using 
my  system  and  device  as  I  do.  The  gov- 
ernors are  an  economical  investment  in  any 
silo ;  but  the  better  the  silo,  the  more  perfect 
will  be  the  preserved  fodder. 

The  importance  of  this  system  may  be  seen 
when  we  notice  how  it  differs  from  ordinary 
ensilage.  By  this  system,  the  forage  is  pre- 
served without  heat  or  fermentation,  without 
foul  odor,  without  any  waste;  it  is  contin- 
ually improving  in  the  silo,  is  soft  and  pulpy, 
and  is  improving  in  feeding  value  while  being 
fed  out ;  as  long  as  it  lasts,  its  quality  is  im- 
proved, its  assimilation  and  feeding  value  aug- 
mented, by  soaking  in  its  own  juice  under 
pressure,  under  similar  but  improved  condi- 
tions to  canned  goods. 

These  conditions  are  quite  the  reverse  with 
ensilage.  Ensilage  is  not  uniform  in  quality, 
and  different  lots  vary  very  much.  Even  with 
the  same  amount  of  care,  it  cannot  be  de- 
pended upon  for  quality  in  any  case,  which 


Preserving  Green  Forage  137 

accounts  for  the  great  number  of  abandoned 
silos,  although  it  is  often  quite  good,  but  it 
will  never  bear  a  good  comparison  with  this 
preserved  forage.  It  is  very  seldom  that  a 
peck  of  ensilage  can  be  taken  into  a  warm 
room  and  kept  a  few  hours  without  filling  the 
room  with  very  disagreeable  odor ;  and  people 
who  have  handled  ensilage  for  a  short  time, 
upon  entering  a  warm  room,  will  usually  fill  it 
with  disagreeable  odor,  unless  their  clothing 
has  been  previously  changed.  But  this  is  not 
the  case  with  this  preserved  forage.  I  feed 
regular  rations,  weighed,  to  my  cows  daily, 
from  60  to  70  pounds,  without  any  waste,  and 
have  fed  as  high  as  85  pounds  to  large  cows. 
This  cannot  be  done  with  ensilage.  My  silo 
is  in  my  barn;  and,  even  when  I  am  feeding  20 
cows  in  the  same  barn,  people  do  not  notice 
the  odor  of  ensilage.  I  am  aware  that  it  is 
difficult  for  people  to  understand  these  state- 
ments who  have  not  seen  it,  but  people  who 
have  seen  these  things  in  my  barn  attest  to 
these  facts. 

This  system  is  in  operation  upon  my  farm, 
and  is  open  to  the  inspection  of  any  one  at 
any  time,  or  to  any  officers,  agents,  or  Com- 
mittees of  Institutes,  Farmers'  Clubs,  or 
Granges,  wishing  to  make  examinations.  As 


138  Colcord's  System  of 

there  is  no  secret  about  it,  all  information  and 
every  facility  is  freely  given  to  make  examina- 
tions ;  and  I  will  answer  any  calls  upon  me  to 
explain  this,  system  and  device  before  any 
meeting  of  such  bodies  as  Boards  of  Agricult- 
ure or  Experiment  Stations. 


[From  the  Farm,  Field,  and  Stockman,  July  14,  1888.] 

EXPERIMENTS  WITH  MILK  AND  CREAM. 

BY    S.    M.    COLCORD. 

From  a  herd  of  grade  cows,  fed  on  Colcord's 
preserved  corn,  with  half-rations  of  shorts  and 
cotton-seed,  sixteen  cows  were  taken  from  a 
rich  pasture  of  fresh  grass,  and  kept  in  the 
barn,  the  temperature  being  an  average  of  85°. 
The  increase  of  milk  upon  65  pounds  daily 
ration  of  this  forage  was  one  can  daily,  without 
turning  the  cows  out. 

June  15,  sixteen  pints  of  milk  were  taken, 
one  pint  from  each  cow's,  from  the  last  quart  of 
each  milking.  It  was  mixed  together,  and  set 
by  the  Cooley  system,  submerged  at  a  tem- 
perature of  48°  sixteen  hours,  the  temperature 
at  the  end  of  the  setting  being  58°.  The  yield 
of  cream  was  four  and  one-half  inches  to  eigh- 


Preserving  Green  Forage  139 

teen  inches  depth  of  milk,  just  one-fourth,  or 
25  per  cent,  cream. 

June  1 6,  sixteen  pints  of  milk  taken,  one 
pint  each  from  same  cows,  fed  the  same  way, 
setting  and  temperature  the  same.  This  milk 
was  taken  from  all  that  the  cows  gave,  the 
setting  was  twelve  hours,  with  three  inches 
of  cream  to  eighteen  inches  depth.  Set  to 
twenty-four  hours,  with  about  the  same  amount 
of  cream.  The  cows  not  turned  out,  and  held 
their  increase  of  milk. 

June  17,  sixteen  pints  taken,  one  pint  from 
each  cow,  from  the  last  half  of  the  milking  of 
each  cow,  mixed  and  set  the  same,  tempera- 
ture of  the  weather  86°,  of  the  water  setting 
58°.  Yield  of  cream,  four  inches  to  eighteen 
inches,  the  cows  bellowing  in  the  hot  barn  for 
cool  water  and  liberty.  The  yield  of  milk  fell 
short  one  can  the  past  twenty-four  hours. 

The  cream  in  all  these  trials  was  yellow, 
sweet,  and  odorless  of  any  taint,  and  was  used 
upon  the  table  morning,  noon,  and  night,  by 
all  the  family  (eight  persons),  upon  oatmeal, 
beans,  bread,  sweet  cakes,  in  tea,  coffee,  and  in 
several  other  ways,  the  quality  uniform  in  all 
the  samples,  and  the  best  I  have  ever  seen. 

June  17,  four  days,  nine  hours,  after  setting, 
the  milk  soured,  the  cream  became  acid.  Three 


140  Colcord's  System  of 

days,  nine  hours,  after  setting,  the  milk  was 
sweet,  the  cream  slightly  acid.  Two  days, 
nine  hours,  after  setting,  the  milk  was  sweet, 
the  cream  sweet.  During  this  time,  the 
weather  has  varied  30°,  with  rain,  thunder,  and 
lightning.  The  setting  and  refrigerator  has 
varied  about  10°. 

June  20,  five  days,  nine  hours,  milk  and 
cream  both  sour.  Four  days,  nine  hours,  milk 
acid,  cream  sour.  Three  days,  nine  hours, 
milk  sweet,  cream  acid. 

There  has  been  no  odor  of  ensilage  or  any 
bad  odor,  except  that  of  sour  milk  or  cream. 
Since  the  i5th  and  i6th,  the  temperature  has 
been  kept  at  58°.  The  samples  are  all  uni- 
form, without  a  taint  of  foul  odor  of  any  kind. 
The  milk  and  cream  are  faultless  as  to  color, 
odor,  and  taste. 

June  26,  the  curd  was  partially  separated 
from  the  whey.  The  samples  are  all  uniform, 
without  a  taint  of  foul  odor  of  any  kind.  The 
taste  of  curd  and  whey  is  very  pleasant,  cheesy ? 
with  no  mould,  not  a  suspicion  of  ensilage 
taste  or  odor.  The  cream  is  thick,  cheesy,  of 
fine  odor,  and  mixed  with  whey.  There  is  not 
a  shade  of  taste  or  smell  in  the  direction  of 
ensilage.  These  samples  are  now  kept  at 
a  temperature  of  38°,  and  are  examined  fre- 


Preserving  Green  Forage  141 

quently.  I  have  never  seen  samples  of  milk 
and  cream  as  pure,  sweet,  and  fine-flavored 
before.  They  appear  to  be  faultless.  The  ex- 
aminations will  continue  until  further  changes 
are  noticed. 

I  have  been  induced  to  make  these  examina- 
tions at  the  request  of  parties  who  furnish  the 
best  milk  to  New  York  City,  for  the  purpose  of 
knowing  whether  Colcord's  preserved  green 
forage  imparts  any  odor  or  taste  of  ensilage  to 
milk  or  cream.  I  believe  it  impossible  to  get 
better  milk  or  cream  from  any  other  food  given 
to  cows. 

[From  the  Rural  New  Yorker. 

PATENT  SILAGE. 

February  i,  we  received  by  mail,  from  Mr. 
S.  M.  Colcord,  of  Dover,  Mass.,  about  a  pound 
of  silage,  which  was  taken  from  the  silo  three 
days  before  its  arrival.  It  was  the  most  per- 
fect specimen  of  preserved  fodder  we  have 
ever  seen,  sweet  and  fragrant.  It  was  sampled 
by  many  visitors,  several  of  whom  were  per- 
fectly willing  to  put  it  into  their  mouths  and 
taste  it.  We  have  kept  that  package  of  silage 
on  a  desk  in  a  warm  room  ever  since.  It  is 
now  perfectly  dry,  green  and  sweet,  in  far  bet- 


142  Colcord's  System  of 

ter   condition   than    any  corn  fodder  we  have 
seen. 

[Following  the  above,  and  in  the  same  paper, 
there  was  printed  a  description  of  the  Colcord 
process  of  preserving  green  forage  without 
heat  or  fermentation,  said  description  being 
very  similar  to  that  printed  on  p.  1 1 2  of  this 
treatise.] 


[From  the  New  England  Farmer,  April,  6,  1889.] 

A   SUGGESTION    FOR   THE   EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS. 

The  Rural  New  Yorker,  noticing  the  ensi- 
lage ideas  of  Mr.  S.  M.  Colcord,  which  have 
been  noticed  several  times  in  these  columns, 
says,  "We  have  long  believed  that  this  process 
of  preparing  silage  will  some  day  revolution- 
ize the  ensilage  business."  The  Rural  New 
Yorker  says  in  print  what  the  editors  of  this 
paper  have  frequently  said  to  Mr.  Colcord 
personally,  that  the  experiment  stations  should 
test  this  patent  system  of  ensilage-making,  side 
by  side  with  the  ordinary  silo. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  143 


THE  PRESERVATION  OF  ENSILAGE, 

BY    S.    M.    COLCORD,  DOVER,  MASS. 

[Published  in  the  Report  of  the  State   Board   of  Agriculture  of 
Pennsylvania,  1888.] 

For  ten  years  past,  I  have  made  a  study  of 
preserving  green  forage,,  and  a  great  deal  of 
my  time  has  been  spent  in  visiting  silos  and 
making  examinations  of  their  contents.  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  the  claims  made  for 
ensilage,  especially  in  the  direction  of  assimila- 
tion and  the  digestion  of  food,  analogous  in 
some  degree  to  the  difference  between  grapes 
and  raisins,  or  between  green  and  dry  forage. 
There  is  also  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  the 
objections  made  to  ensilage  as  usually  fed  to 
cattle,  especially  in  the  direction  of  its  being 
injured  or  spoiled  by  heat  and  fermentation  in 
the  silo,  rendering  it  unfit  for  wholesome  food. 
It  has  been  found  so  difficult  to  preserve  it 
without  heat  and  consequent  fermentation  that 
the  advice  of  scientific  men  has  been  in  the 
direction  of  increasing  the  heat  for  the  purpose 
of  germinating  the  bacteria  in  true  fermenta- 
tion and  killing  them  by  excess  of  heat,  as 


144  Colcord's  System  of 

they  germinate  at  a  temperature  above  80°  and 
are  killed  above  122°  Fahrenheit.  The  ob- 
jection to  this  theory  and  practice  is  that  true 
fermentation  cannot  be  controlled  or  stopped 
before  the  ensilage  becomes  unfit  for  food,  as 
it  has  been  proved  that  the  germs  of  bacteria 
will  develop  after  having  been  exposed  to  a 
temperature  of  212°  for  some  hours. 

I  have  therefore  directed  my  experiments 
with  a  view  of  preventing  heat  and  fermenta- 
tion entirely,  as  the  only  sure  way  of  preserving 
green  forage;  and,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
possibilities  of  this  system,  I  built  a  perfectly 
air-tight  silo,  with  smooth,  perpendicular  walls, 
capacity  of  6,528  cubic  feet,  about  150  tons, 
384  square  feet  of  top  surface,  arranged  to 
press  with  jack-screws,  at  pleasure,  wherever 
and  whenever  wanted ;  filled  it  with  green 
corn  in  full  milk,  cut  in  half-inch  lengths,  lev- 
elled carefully  to  level  lines,  i  foot  apart, 
striped  around  the  walls  with  a  plumbago 
pencil;  covered  it  with  2-inch  splined  plank, 
and  around  the  sides  with  4^ -inch  rubber 
packing,  then  covered  with  two  thicknesses 
of  thick  paper,  kept  in  place  with  4  inches  of 
sand  all  over  it. 

Three  governors,  consisting  of  i-inch  iron 
pipe  made  into  frames  6  by  26  feet,  with 


Preserving  Green  Forage  145 

%-inch  holes  on  the  under  sides,  every  6 
inches,  were  placed  one  at  the  bottom,  one  in 
the  centre,  and  one  on  the  top  of  this  mass 
of  corn,  with  outlets  at  the  bottom  and  top, 
closed  with  stop-cocks  and  plugs.  These 
governors  were  sleeved  together,  and  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  corn  could  not  stop  the  %- 
inch  holes,  but  would  leave  a  continuous 
passage  under  the  pipes  for  the  air  and  gases 
to  get  into  the  pipes  and  be  conveyed  through 
the  pipes  to  the  outside  through  the  openings 
at  top  and  bottom,  thus  leaving  an  air-hole 
within  3  to  4  feet  of  every  part  of  the  forage. 
It  is  not  usual  to  get  any  juice  from  the  corn 
in  making  ensilage,  even  with  200  pounds 
weighting  to  the  square  foot;  but,  with  this 
device,  the  action  was  so  prompt  and  decided 
that  I  had  2  to  3  inches  of  juice  from  the  corn 
all  over  the  bottom  of  the  silo  before  it  was 
three-quarters  full,  and  some  days  before  it  was 
covered.  I  took  the  temperature  daily  at  dif- 
ferent depths,  in  the  centre,  which  was  never 
over  72°  in  any  part  of  the  silo.  This  was 
about  the  temperature  outside  when  we  com- 
menced filling.  Six  feet  from  the  bottom,  the 
mercury  stood  56°  to  58°,  which  is  above  the 
highest  temperature  we  now  have,  four  months 
after  filling.  The  forage  does  not  heat  up 


146  Colcord's  System  of 

when   removed  from  the  silo,  piled  in  a  heap 
and  left  exposed  to  the  air,  as  ensilage  does. 

The  silo  being  sealed  up  air-tight,  all  the  gas 
coming  from  it  had  to  come  out  through  the 
governors  at  the  top  of  the  silo.  The  next 
morning  after  commencing  to  fill,  carbonic 
acid  was  abundant.  The  second  day,  we  had 
acetic  acid,  with  no  rise  of  temperature.  These 
two  acids  appeared  to  be  all  that  came  out  of 
the  silo.  They  were  very  pure  and  odorless. 
It  is  fair  to  presume  that,  as  carbonic  acid  is 
heavier  than  air,  and  was  present  in  quantity, 
it  displaced  the  air  in  the  silo,  and  that,  being 
readily  absorbed  by  the  water  or  juice,  it  had 
a  tendency  to  form  a  vacuum,  which,  com- 
bined with  the  pressure  and  capillary  attrac- 
tion, brought  the  juice  to  the  very  top  plank. 
The  silo  is  now  just  half  empty.  The  perpen- 
dicular face  of  the  cut  is  13^  feet.  From  any 
part  of  this  face,  we  can  take  a  handful  of  the 
corn  and  squeeze  the  juice  from  it  with  one 
hand.  The  lower  half  of  this  mass  occupies 
less  than  half  the  space  it  did  when  put  in. 
The  upper  half  shows  much  less  pressure ;  but 
the  weight  of  a  cubic  foot  of  each  is  about  the 
same,  showing  the  proportion  of  juice  to  corn 
is  much  greater  in  the  top  half.  Heavy  press- 
ure was  kept  on  for  six  weeks.  During  all  this 
time,  acetic  acid  came  out  pure  and  pungent. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  147 

When  that  ceased  to  come,  the  pressure  was 
discontinued ;  and,  since  the  pressure  has  been 
removed,  the  acidity  has  been  growing  less,  a 
change  not  unlike  the  acidity  of  a  Baldwin 
apple  from  November  to  May.  My  cattle  have 
never  objected  to  the  acid.  They  seem  to  like 
it.  The  good  milkers  increase  in  milk,  but  do 
not  increase  so  much  in  flesh;  while  the  young 
and  dry  stock  increase  in  flesh,  some  of  them 
over  two  pounds  daily  for  sixty  days  past.  I 
am  keeping  nearly  double  the  stock  of  last 
year,  making  nearly  double  the  amount  of  milk 
and  manure,  using  about  the  same  amount  of 
grain,  and  employing  the  same  amount  of  help 
as  last  year.  I  have  no  weights  to  put  on  and 
take  off  the  silo,  no  corn  to  husk,  shell,  and 
take  to  the  mill, —  it  is  all  in  the  silo ;  and  I 
have  no  corn-fodder  to  handle,  cut  up,  and 
steam,  and  no  mangels  to  cut  up  and  feed. 
I  shall  have  half  my  hay  left  over.  It  was  all 
fed  out  last  year  to  about  half  the  amount  of 
stock.  I  also  have  enough  of  this  fodder  to 
carry  twenty  head  of  stock  to  the  ist  of 
August. 

This  system,  as  developed  by  experiment  and 
tests,  rests  mainly  upon  having  tight  silos,  with 
smooth,  perpendicular,  even  walls  ;  the  oppo- 
site walls  being  at  equal  distances  from  each 


148  Colcord's  System  of 

other  in  all  places,  so  that  under  pressure  the 
fodder  may  descend  with  the  least  lateral 
pressure,  and  the  covering  may  come  down 
evenly  without  pressure  upon  the  walls ;  the 
forage  kept  spread  evenly  while  being  placed 
in  the  silo,  so  that  it  may  be  pressed  to  equal 
density.  The  cover  should  be  of  2-inch  plank 
laid  across  the  silo,  with  6x6  timbers  laid 
across  the  plank  lengthwise  of  the  silo  to  keep 
the  cover  level ;  and  the  pressure  should  be 
upon  the  6x6  timber.  The  best  pressure  is 
produced  by  having  i  ^-inch  iron  rods  built  into 
the  side  walls  from  the  bottom  to  6  feet  above 
the  walls,  placed  perpendicular  in  the  centre 
of  the  walls,  about  4  feet  from  the  end  walls 
and  8  feet  distance  apart,  with  8x8  timber 
(to  a  12-foot  span)  connecting  opposite  rods, 
the  rods  passing  through  i^-inch  holes 
through  the  ends  of  the  timbers,  securely 
fastened  on  top  by  double  nuts  and  large, 
heavy  washers  under  them.  The  long  screws 
on  the  rods  should  be  about  six  threads  to 
an  inch.  2-inch  jack-screws  should  be  used 
between  the  timbers  running  lengthwise  and 
across  the  silo. 

The  heavy  strain  upon  the  rods  will  assist 
in  holding  up  the  walls,  the  corn  can  be  kept 
level,  and  all  time,  trouble,  and  expense  of 
weighting  avoided 


Preserving  Green  Forage  149 

The  corn  should  be  cut  fine,  %  to  ^  inch 
long.  The  pressure  should  give  about  30 
inches  of  juice  in  the  bottom  of  the  silo,  and 
is  a  better  guide  for  pressure  than  weighting 
a  certain  number  of  pounds,  because  that 
amount  of  juice  has  been  found  sufficient 
under  pressure,  with  the  absorption  of  car- 
bonic acid  and  •  capillary  attraction  to  carry  the 
juice  to  the  top  of  the  forage,  displacing  all. air 
and  free  gas,  representing  canned  goods  by 
cold  pressure  instead  of  heat.  This  statement 
must  be  understood  to  include  the  device  for 
removing  air  and  other  gases,  without  which 
it  cannot  be  done.  In  large  silos,  one  gover- 
nor should  be  placed  on  the  bottom  and  one 
in  the  centre  of  the  silo.  These  act  so 
promptly  that  we  get  juice  in  the  bottom  be- 
fore we  get  the  cover  on,  and  act  continuously 
for  six  weeks,  removing  air,  carbonic  and  acetic 
acid,  the  forage  continually  improving  in  qual- 
ity from  the  filling  to  removing  it  from  the 
silo.  The  covering  plank  is  laid  directly  upon 
the  corn.  There  is  no  waste  whatever  of  for- 
age in  the  silo,  or  at  the  feeding-trough. 
There  is  no  odor  from  the  forage  in  the  silo, 
about  the  barn,  or  from  the  hands  and  cloth- 
ing after  handling  it.  Cattle  will  eat  one  ton 
per  month  continuously.  If  the  corn  is  put  in 


150  Colcord^s  System  of 

mature,  the  ears  upon  the  stalk,  no  corn-meal 
should  be  fed  with  it ;  but  cattle  will  do  better 
with  a  light  ration  of  shorts  and  cotton-seed 
fed  with  the  forage,  as  corn  in  its  best  con- 
ditions is  not  a  perfect  food,  although  there  is 
no  better  food  to  feed  alone. 

In  comparing  different  samples  of  ensilage, 
it  is  often  difficult  to  decide  which  is  best; 
and  it  is  usually  found  to  be  of  better  quality 
during  the  first  month  after  opening  the  silo ; 
but  forage  preserved  by  this  system  is  contin- 
ually improving. 

In  comparing  it  with  ensilage,  we  can  feed 
one-third  more  of  it  in  a  given  time ;  it  is 
much  more  economical, —  there  is  no  waste  in 
preserving  or  feeding  it;  there  are  no  foul 
odors  about  it,  and  odor  is  one  of  the  sure 
tests  of  quality. 

By  this  system,  we  expel  the  air,  carbonic 
and  acetic  acids,  from  the  silo,  pure  and  simple. 
In  ensilage,  these  are  disposed  of  by  heat  and 
fermentation,  through  decomposition,  forming 
deleterious  compounds  with  foul  odors,  increas- 
ing as  bacteria  fermentation  is  more  or  less 
active.  Ensilage  usually  has  heat  and  active 
bacteria  fermentation  in  it,  which  causes  nearly 
all  the  trouble  with  it ;  but,  when  the  governor 
is  used  in  a  good  silo,  heat  and  fermentation 
never  occur. 


Preserving  Green  Forage  151 

It  is  of  great  advantage  and  a  great  satisfac- 
tion to  be  able  to  know  just  the  conditions 
inside  the  silo  at  all  times,  as  the  amount  of 
juice  gives  the  pressure  wanted  as  well  as  the 
acidity.  The  temperature  informs  us  as  to 
the  fermentation,  the  ability  to  examine  the 
gases  coming  from  all  parts  of  the  silo,  at  any 
time,  and  to  know  when  they  cease  and  hew 
they  can  be  controlled.  The  device  we  call 
the  governor,  because  it  is  intended  not  only 
to  show  the  conditions,  but  govern  them.  It 
has  always  acted  to  prevent  heat  and  fermen- 
tation, so  that  we  have  never  had  an  opportu- 
nity to  test  in  stopping  and  controlling,  al- 
though designed  for  that  purpose  also. 

It  is  also  a  great  advantage  to  control  the 
pressure  at  will.  The  last  heavy  pressure  by 
the  screws  gave  us  acetic  acid  through  the 
governor,  showing  no  changes  beyond,  toward 
decomposition ;  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
acetic  acid  came  in  the  second  day  after  com- 
mencing to  fill. 

The  quantity  of  acetic  acid  in  all  samples 
of  ensilage  has  appeared  to  be  one  of  the 
great  objections  to  ensilage,  and,  in  judging  it, 
other  greater  objections  have  been  overlooked. 
I  have  found  that  the  quality  of  the  preserved 
forage  does  not  depend  upon  its  acidity. 


152  Colcord's  System  of 

To  ascertain  the  effect  of  good  preserved 
fodder  fed  in  large  quantity,  I  fed  to  a  large 
cow  from  66  to  over  70  pounds  daily  for  90 
days,  during  which  time  she  gained  in  weight 
2  pounds  5  ounces  daily.  Her  last  feed,  an 
hour  and  a  half  before  she  was  killed,  was  19 
pounds  of  bright,  odorless  forage,  fed  alone, 
the  acidity  of  which  was  equal  to  the  acidity 
in  1 1  ounces  of  commercial  acetic  acid.  The 
test  was  made  by  pressing  10  ounces  of  juice 
from  i  pound  of  the  forage,  neutralizing  with 
liquor  potash,  and  testing  with  litmus.  The 
contents  of  the  stomach  were  immediately  ex- 
amined in  the  same  way.  One  pound  of  it  was 
pressed  the  same  as  the  sample  before  it  was 
fed,  with  same  results,  10  ounces  of  juke  from 
16  ounces.  Nothing  found  in  the  stomach 
but  this  forage.  The  humidity  the  same  as 
before  being  eaten,  and  tested  so  nearly  neu- 
tral that  I  could  not  tell  whether  it  leaned  to 
acid  or  alkali. 

The  contents  of  the  stomach  were  not  offen- 
sive, not  more  so  than  the  forage  before  being 
eaten,  except  the  animal  heat  in  it.  Every 
part  of  the  animal  was  perfectly  healthy.  The 
beef  was  fat,  very  meaty  and  well  mottled. 
This  cow,  before  she  was  fed  on  this  forage, 
was  in  quite  ordinary  condition,  and  it  was 


Preserving  Green  Forage  153 

feared  that  she  would  not  fatten  enough  for 
fair  beef ;  but  3  days  before  she  was  butchered 
she  weighed  1,418  pounds.  How  that  quan- 
tity of  acid  was  disposed  of  in  one  and  one- 
half  hours  by  the  animal  will  require  more 
time  and  further  experiments.  No  animal 
could  have  been  in  better  health  than  she 
was  during  the  90  days,  or  show  a  more 
healthy  condition  of  every  part  upon  exami- 
nation. Her  gain  in  weight  for  the  last  90 
days  was  gradual  and  continuous,  averaging 
2  pounds  5  ounces  daily.  Over  3  pounds  of 
the  contents  of  her  stomach  is  now  in  the 
same  condition  as  on  the  day  it  was  taken  out. 
It  has  been  kept  in  a  tin  lard-pail  30  days,  is 
odorless,  and  seems  to  be  just  in  the  condi- 
tion for  mastication. 

This  acid  forage  was  taken  from  the  centre 
of  the  silo  around  the  perpendicular  pipes  that 
very  loosely  sleeved  the  governors  together, 
giving  the  forage  an  opportunity  to  absorb  a 
larger  portion  of  the  acid  passing  the  loose 
openings.  I  do  not  know  what  the  odor  of 
ensilage  would  be  under  like  circumstances, 
after  being  exposed  to  heat  and  fermentation, 
but  presume  the  foul  odors  would  be  very 
much  increased,  as  is  the  case  with  juice  from 
ensilage  after  exposure  to  the  air. 


154  Colcord's  System  of 

May  15,  1888. —  My  silo  is  now  three-quar- 
ters empty.  This  empty  part  is  dry  and  odor- 
less. The  last  quarter  we  are  now  using  is 
much  improved  by  remaining  in  the  silo. 
The  cover  is  tight,  but  there  is  no  pressure 
or  weight  upon  it.  The  vertical  cut  is  13^ 
feet.  The  lower  half  of  the  corn  is  con- 
densed to  half  the  space  occupied  by  the 
upper  half,  but  a  cubic  foot  of  the  upper  half 
weighs  a  little  more  than  a  cubic  foot  of  the 
lower  half;  yet  in  feeding  value  they  are  equal. 
I  feed  all  the  cattle  with  every  ration  weighed 
to  them,  which  is  now  65  pounds  daily  to 
each  animal,  reduced  from  70  pounds,  because 
the  feeding  value  of  the  forage  is  improved 
by  soaking  five  months  in  its  own  juice. 
The  flow  of  milk  is  much  greater,  as  well  as 
the  gain  in  flesh.  Nothing  leaks  out  or  runs 
down  from  this  vertical  cut,  and  I  can  now 
press  out  n  ounces  of  juice  from  16  ounces 
of  the  forage  taken  from  any  part  of  the  silo. 
1 6  of  my  cows  have  gained  the  past  4  months 
2,765  pounds,  and  16  of  them  1,242  pounds 
during  the  last  30  days.  One  of  them  has 
gained  in  weight  an  average  of  a  fraction  over 
5  pounds  daily  during  the  past  30  days;  an- 
other one,  4%  pounds  daily;  another,  3  5-6 
pounds;  another,  3  1-3  pounds;  another,  3  1-6 


Preserving  Green  Forage  155 

pounds ;  2  more,  3  pounds  daily  each,  and  so 
on, —  all  during  the  last  30  days,  with  about 
half  my  former  rations  of  grain  and  about  one- 
quarter  ration  of  hay  for  a  change. 

The  juice  from  this  forage  is  odorless, 
agreeable  to  the  taste,  and  changes  but  very 
little  upon  exposure  to  the  air.  It  settles  clear, 
and  loses  much  of  its  acidity.  At  a  tempera- 
ture of  60°  to  80°,  it  will  gradually  turn  to 
pure,  odorless,  weak  corn  vinegar. 

The  year  previous  to  building  this  silo,  I 
fed  at  the  rate  of  140  bushels  of  shelled  corn, 
in  the  shape  of  a  mixture  of  cob-meal  and 
oats,  to  eleven  cows,  with  good  results;  but  I 
thought  I  was  feeding  too  much  corn  for  the 
health  of  the  cattle.  This  year,  I  think  I  am 
feeding  mature  corn  in  full  milk  that,  if  allowed 
to  glaze  and  ripen,  would  yield  about  500 
bushels  of  shelled  corn.  This  has  been  and  is 
being  fed  to  19  head  of  cattle,  17  being  milch 
cows  giving  20  cans  of  milk,  17  pints  each, 
the  milk  increasing  at  about  the  same  rate  as 
of  flesh,  as  stated  above,  in  the  past  30  days. 

This  amount  of  corn  goes  into  the  cows  as 
juice,  or  extract  of  corn,  as  between  60  and  70 
per  cent,  is  contained  in  the  forage  as  free 
juice,  held  there  by  absorption;  and,  fed  in  this 
way,  I  do  not  consider  that  it  acts  in  digestion 


156  Colcord^s  System  of 

as  corn-meal  does,  and  accounts  for  the  greatly 
increased  feeding  value  of  corn  forage  pre- 
served in  this  way. 

I  have  not  yet  tried  the  experiment  of  feed- 
ing a  large  quantity  of  grain  with  this  very 
moist  forage,  but  I  think  it  can  be  done  to 
some  extent  without  injury  to  the  cattle. 
There  must  be  some  limit  to  it,  but  I  have  not 
yet  found  it  I  am  not  feeding  my  usual 
quantity  of  grain,  on  account  of  the  enormous 
increase  of  flesh,  as  stated  above. 

If,  as  these  experiments  seem  to  indicate, 
the  first  process  of  digestion  is  done  in  the 
silo  to  a  great  extent,  and  if  it  is  necessary 
that  a  large  quantity  of  acid  is  required  in 
this  first  process  of  digestion,  and  if  we  can 
do  it  as  well  or  better  without  using  the  vital 
force  of  the  animal,  it  would  seem  to  be  a 
matter  of  very  great  importance. 

The  cattle  eat  these  rations  in  half  an  hour. 
An  hour  afterward,  the  cud  is  in  the  best 
possible  condition  ready  to  be  chewed  over. 
There  is  no  inflation  of  gas  in  the  stomach,  no 
acid,  no  odor.  The  cows  are  quiet  and  docile. 
The  increase  of  milk,  flesh,  and  manure,  is 
very  large.  The  economy  in  time,  trouble, 
labor,  and  expense,  is  very  great,  and  the 
results  foot  up  from  double  to  treble  any  other 
known  methods.  • 


Preserving  Green  Forage  157 

I  have  not  yet  made  any  experiments  for  the 
quality  of  milk,  cream,  and  butter;*  but  I  have 
no  reason  to  doubt  a  corresponding  advance  in 
both  quantity  and  quality.  The  quantity  we 
are  sure  of,  and  the  large  amount  of  hydro- 
carbons that  go  to  make  cream  and  fat  are  to 
be  found  in  corn,  bran,  cotton  and  flax  seed. 
Cows  fed  with  this  forage  in  proper  quantities 
(not  large)  will  give  very  rich  and  yellow  milk, 
cream,  and  butter.  There  is  not  any  objection- 
able odor  in  this  preserved  forage,  from  the 
silo  to  the  second  stomach  of  the  cow ;  but  it 
may  lack  the  fine  flavor  of  clover  or  new-mown 
hay. 

PROGRESS  MADE  IN  PRESERVING  GREEN 
FORAGE  IN  SILOS. 

Men  make  progress  in  any  direction  when 
they  keep  their  eyes  open  in  all  directions, 
with  the  mind  in  an  affirmative  state,  and  the 
will  ready  to  receive  the  truth  and  act  upon  it, 
when  found.  I  have  had  good  and  abundant 
reasons  for  pursuing  this  course  in  these  in- 
vestigations, and  have  found  occasion  to  mod- 
ify and  change  my  opinions  in  much  of  the 
detail  of  my  work,  abandon  much  that  I  sup- 

*See  p.  138  for  recent  experiments  on  milk  and  cream. 


158  Colcord's  System  of 

posed  was  true  and  reliable,  and  to  hang  up  as 
doubtful  some  things  I  had  considered  scien- 
tific facts. 

Any  one  attempting  to  fathom  the  depths 
and  mysteries  of  fermentation  will  find  him- 
self in  a  broad  road,  with  no  sharp  lines,  like 
wheel-ruts,  to  guide  him,  but  more  like  the 
path  of  the  rainbow,  shading  and  blending,  yet 
never  going  in  a  straight  line,  but  always 
pointing  in  one  direction. 

I  should  never  have  known  what  I  now  do 
about  fermentation,  as  regards  its  operations 
in  green  forage  in  silos,  had  I  continued  to 
follow  in  the  direction  of  other  investigators ; 
but  when  I  built  a  perfect  silo,  large  enough 
to  work  the  processes  in  quantity,  in  which 
I  could  try  any  required  experiments,  find  out 
all  that  was  going  on  in  the  silo,  examine  all 
the  gases  that  came  from  it,  ascertain  the  tem- 
perature in  it  at  any  time  and  at  any  depth, 
press  it  level,  and  enough  to  get  free  juice  in 
it  from  bottom  to  top,  to  make  the  forage  very 
nearly  represent  canned  goods,  to  prevent  heat, 
fermentation,  and  foul  odor  of  any  kind,  and 
be  able  to  remove  the  forage  in  perfect  condi- 
tion, and  feed  it  out  without  change,  in  the 
coldest  weather  in  winter  or  the  warmest 
weather  in  summer,  I  found  all  my  theories 
and  hopes  more  than  realized,  because  two- 


Preserving  Green  Forage  159 

thirds  of  all  the  difficulties  I  expected  to  en- 
counter were  removed  when  all  the  air  was 
out  and  my  friend,  carbonic  acid,  was  in.  But 
let  no  one  think  that,  when  he  tries  an  experi- 
ment and  makes  a  failure,  it  has  no  value. 
The  failures  of  others  have  been  the  land- 
marks to  guide  me  to  success  in  this  matter. 
Whenever  I  saw  failures  in  any  silo,  I  was  not 
long  in  discovering  the  cause.  If  it  was  fun- 
gus growth  or  black  rot,  I  found  that  it  was 
caused  by  air  getting  in  from  the  outside.  If 
I  found  true  fermentation,  I  always  found  it 
produced  by  air  not  being  removed  from  the 
silo,  producing  heat  and  fermentation,  with 
decomposition  and  recombinations,  evolving 
foul  odors.  I  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
study  to  find  some  way  of  curing  these  evils, 
when  found  in  the  silo;  but,  when  I  became 
the  possessor  of  a  perfect  silo,  in  which  I  could 
find  the  truth  of  every  theory,  and  prove  the 
facts  by  actual  experiment,  my  theories  and 
practices  became  very  much  modified,  and  I 
found  two-thirds  of  my  work  could  be  done  by 
avoiding  the  difficulties,  and  the  practical  diffi- 
culties so  simplified  that  they  could  all  be  met 
and  perfect  results  obtained,  even  by  persons 
of  ordinary  capacity.  I  learned  that  by  having 
strong  and  tight  silos,  with  smooth,  level-faced 
walls,  the  forage  can  settle  without  leaving 


1 60  Colcord  's  •  System 

any  cracks  or  vacant  spaces  for  the  air  to  get 
in  and  produce  black  rot;  that  removing  all 
the  air  at  the  time  of  filling  the  silo  will 
prevent  heat  and  fermentation ;  that  press- 
ing out  juice  from  the  corn,  and  bringing  it  up 
uniformly  throughout  the  forage  to  take  the 
place  of  the  air  and  gases  in  the  forage,  will 
produce  a  condition  like  canned  goods.  This 
condition  can  be  developed  and  controlled 
with  very  little  trouble,  and  very  great  econ- 
omy, by  using  the  silo  governor.  The  details 
of  the  processes  are  all  described  and  explained 
under  appropriate  heads,  and  the  system  eluci- 
dated as  well  as  I  know  how  to  do  it,  in  this 
little  book. 

While  I  do  not  claim  that  further  progress 
is  impossible,  I  do  claim  that  what  we  now 
know  is  quite  sufficient  to  insure  very  nearly, 
if  not  absolutely,  perfect  results,  and  ought  to 
be  satisfactory  to  the  most  fastidious,  making 
sure  of  the  best  results  attained  as  yet  by  any 
system  devised  for  cheapening  dairy  products, 
and  improving  them  in  quality  and  quantity, 
whether  it  be  milk,  cream,  butter,  cheese,  beef, 
or  even  manure ;  and  that  whatever  progress 
is  made  in  the  future  will  be  made  in  the 
direction  pointed  out  in  this  "  System  of  Pre- 
serving Green  Forage  without  Heat  or  Fer- 
mentation." 


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LIBRARY,  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE,  DAVK 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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AUG  1  2  i960 

S',  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE,  DAVIS 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


